Toto Wolff has reflected on his divisive but complicated relationship with “arsehole” Christian Horner, the former Red Bull team principal who was suddenly sacked earlier this year.
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Speaking to Formula.hu, a frank Wolff admitted that while Horner had “behaved like an arsehole” during his time at Red Bull the sport had been left without one of its strongest personalities.
“What do I think? Well, that he has behaved like an arsehole quite often over the last 12-15 years,” Wolff told the publication.
“He operates according to completely different values, but even the greatest enemy has a best friend.
“On the other hand, he was extremely successful in what he did. Now that he’s gone, at least for a while, a real personality has left the sport.”
Horner and Wolff had their disagreements, most notably in 2021 during the intense fight between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen for the world championship, which ended in a dramatic and controversial final race in Abu Dhabi.
Tensions continued to bubble away even after Verstappen’s contentious title victory, with both Wolff and then Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton deciding to boycott the FIA year-ending gala in protest.
Before then there was the ‘flexi-wing’ row between Red Bull and Mercedes, while both teams also clashed over claims the other was treated more fairly by the stewards and race director at the time.
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“Those years, but especially 2021, weren’t just about Max and Lewis, but also about Christian and me,” Wolff said.
“What’s more, it was really difficult at times, and that’s in all the history books and will remain there.
“You know, he always said that I loved to hate him. So who should I hate now? It looks like I’ll have to find someone else…”
While Wolff and Horner had their differences, the former joked that outside of himself and potentially Ferrari’s Fred Vasseur, there aren’t many “old-style team boss dinosaurs” left with the former Red Bull boss out of the picture.
“He was controversial and divisive, but he was one of the main characters here,” Wolff said.
“We can safely say that he was as significant as one of (the) drivers.”