Christian Horner and Toto Wolff have long been at the helm of two of one F1’s great teams in Red Bull and Mercedes. Inevitably, there have been flashpoints in their relationship.
Perhaps the most notable was the 2021 season, when Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton engaged in an epic but highly acrimonious battle for the title. Over the course of the season, they collided three times.
It was Verstappen who won out in the end following the infamous season finale in Abu Dhabi. An error from race director Michael Masi enabled him to pass Hamilton and win the race on the final lap.
Since then, Red Bull and Mercedes haven’t been direct competitors. After a run of eight straight titles for the Silver Arrows, the Bulls have now established themselves as a dominant force.
Verstappen has won the last two championships at a canter, shattering records en route to the title last year, and has made an equally dominant start to 2024. But that hasn’t stopped Horner and Wolff from coming into conflict.
The nub of the tension is Mercedes’ interest in Verstappen. Wolff wants the Dutchman to replace Hamilton, who’s heading to Ferrari next year.
He’s publicly spoken of his desire to land the 26-year-old is willing to do whatever it takes to get him. That includes pursuing chief engineer Pierre Wache and director Helmut Marko, both of whom are regarded as key figures at Red Bull by Verstappen.
Horner appears to have taken exception to these manoeuvres, particularly because his star driver is still under contract until 2028. He said in his media briefing following the Chinese Grand Prix (via Sky Sports F1) that Wolff should stop ‘focusing on drivers that are unavailable’.
David Croft shares what annoys Christian Horner about Toto Wolff
Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, commentator David Croft explored the root of the ‘animosity’ between Horner and Wolff. He feels it’s down to their respective standings at their teams.
As he points out, Wolff holds a 33% stake in Mercedes, a luxury Horner doesn’t enjoy at Red Bull. Croft reckons that may be a source of bitterness for the Englishman.
He said: “The one thing that is always going to wind Christian up a little bit as well is that, for all the success at Red Bull, for all the titles, the trophies, the race wins that they’re enjoying at the moment, Toto Wolff is a co-owner of a Formula 1 team, and Christian Horner isn’t. And I don’t think that goes down very well with Christian.
“I think if you said to him, ‘would you like to be a co-owner of that Red Bull team?’, of course he would, he wants control and he wants power, and Toto’s got that, because he is the third owner at Mercedes, and Christian Horner, he might be a CEO and he might be a team principal, but he’s a paid employee of the Red Bull Formula 1 team. So he hasn’t got that autonomy to make decisions in the way that Toto has.
“I think a lot of the animosity on Christian’s side stems from that. But I think Toto also knows how to wind Christian up.”
Christian Horner disagrees with Helmut Marko on Red Bull driver line-up
While Wolff very much appears to be guiding Mercedes’ driver search, Horner is hamstrung by the need for consensus at Red Bull. For instance, he’s apparently more interested in signing free agent Carlos Sainz than Marko.
Likewise, earlier in the season, before his woes at RB deepened, Horner was the man lobbying for Daniel Ricciardo. Marko, on the other hand, was cooler on the prospect of bringing him back.
In the end, Red Bull may well end up retaining Sergio Perez. He’s earned comparisons to 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill after taking a marked step forward in performance over the winter.
All of this isn’t to say that Horner doesn’t wield a huge influence. He apparently blocked an agreement with Porsche over concerns that he may lose some control.
The 50-year-old has been the team principal at Red Bull for nearly 20 years, having joined in 2005. That means he’s overseen all of their 117 race victories and the seven world championships they’ve won with Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel.
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