Strange to not have “great enemy” Horner in F1

Toto Wolff has conceded it feels odd not to have his bitter long-time Formula 1 rival Christian Horner to spar against after the latter’s Red Bull exit.

Horner was removed from his position as Red Bull boss after July’s British Grand Prix, ending a successful two-decade reign that made him one of F1’s biggest and divisive players.

On his way to the top, Horner often sparred with his frontrunning peers, building up an acrimonious rivalry with Mercedes chief Wolff at the height of a fraught 2021 title battle between their drivers Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, which often spilled over off the track as well as on it.

Considering McLaren then replaced Mercedes as Red Bull’s biggest competitor, Horner developed a fierce rivalry and mutual dislike with his papaya counterpart Zak Brown as the pair often traded barbs.

Horner was replaced by former Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies, a pragmatic and well-liked operator whose appointment has already thawed frosty relations. He even visited the McLaren motorhome in Hungary for a long meeting with Brown to set the tone for a more constructive relationship.

Speaking to select media at this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, including Autosport, Wolff revealed he is starting to miss having Horner around as the F1 paddock has become a quieter place. The Austrian also said the pair had made contact after Horner left Red Bull.

“He said to me: ‘What are you doing now, because you love to hate me and I’m gone!’,” Wolff said. “It’s a bit ambivalent because, A, his track record is very good – one of the most successful in Formula 1. So, clearly there are things he’s done well. Within the team, I think he was to a certain degree, respected in Milton Keynes.

“But then we didn’t often have the same opinion or perspective. So, he’s been a wonderful, great enemy over the years. Am I missing him? It’s quite strange to come here and Christian’s not going to be around. I mean, what are you doing with him not around? That’s a bit weird. 

“And then you have the pragmatism of Laurent Mekies. Suddenly you can have a conversation about the long term. We’re just totally different people, but even your biggest enemy is your best friend.”

Wolff conceded that having big, divisive characters can only be a good thing for the series, opining earlier on Friday that left-field rumours linking Horner, Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone to an Alpine takeover “would create lots of buzz around Formula 1”.

On Friday night Wolff expanded on that view in a more casual manner: “What I said is that every movie needs the good, the bad and the ugly. Now the bad is gone, it’s only Fred [Vasseur at Ferrari] and I left… It took Fred a while to think about that,” Wolff deadpanned.

“The sport needs that. In the past we had those massive characters and I hope that some of the new team principals are going to grow into these roles in an authentic way, because you can’t fake it.

“Christian was one of those protagonists. He was outspoken, he was controversial, he was an ass, and he loved to play that role. You need an asshole, people need to hate someone.”