Toto Wolff and Christian Horner had their own tussle in 2021 aside from the Formula 1 Title fight their respective teams and drivers where having on track, with Wolff admitting things became really personal between the two.
While Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton fought tooth and nail for F1 supremacy in 2021, their respective team bosses Horner and Wolff were engaged in their own ‘War of Words’ off the track.
The team bosses were never lacking in terms of topics to fight about, be it flexi rear wings for Red Bull, trick rear wings from Mercedes, and not to mention the spicy engine Hamilton had in his W12 from Brazil onwards.
Hamilton and Verstappen gave their bosses even more reason to squabble about with their on-track shenanigans, with what happened at Copse in Silverstone, or the Monza ‘RB16B-W12 pileup’ still in memory.
The Mercedes boss however admitted to Formule 1 Magazine that he wasn’t proud of what went down with his Red Bull counterpart and said: “I really regret it.
“I always try to stay professional and approach things professionally,” he explained. “It got very personal between the two of us at some point, that’s right.
Wolff mentioned an incident during the flexi-wing saga between the rival teams when things took an ugly turn and recalled: “He told me to ‘keep my mouth shut’ [during the flexi-wing situation] and then I responded by saying he was a windbag and talked too much for the cameras.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” the Austrian lamented.
“It’s a professional relationship and you know that even your worst enemy has a best friend, so you have to respect that person, even if you fight a hard duel in a professional environment.”
Suzie Wolff wouldn’t have it
Wolff admitted that his better half, Susie wasn’t shy from telling him that verbal hostilities he and Horner were immersed in where nothing to be proud of.
“Susie pointed that out to me very clearly,” the 50-year-old revealed.
“She said, ‘Why are you having these kinds of discussions? You’re trying to win, respect that. Even if someone goes in that direction, you don’t have to’.
“That’s called female social intelligence!” Wolff quipped admitting men are lacking in that department :”We sometimes have too many hormones.”
With the 2021 season ending in controversy in Abu Dhabi, and the ramifications of the season finale still not resolved, it would be safe to predict that Wolff and Horner will pick up from where they left in terms of their quarrels, but hopefully in a more civilized manner.
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