Horner having fun watching Wolff getting 'wound up'

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says he's enjoying watching his Mercedes counter-part Toto Wolff getting "wound up" and unsettled by this year's tense championship battle between F1's two top contenders.

For the first time since the advent of the hybrid era in Formula 1 and since the start of Wolff's tenure at the helm of Mercedes in 2013, the Brackley squad is facing a sustained season-long challenge from an opponent.

Although Mercedes leads the Constructors' standings from Red Bull, the Milton Keynes-based outfit has so far outclassed the reigning world champions 7 to 5 in terms of race wins, while Max Verstappen trails Lewis Hamilton by just two points in the Drivers' standings.

Pundits are predicting that the battle will go down to the wire. But the intensity of the battle is new territory for the usually cool and composed Wolff whose demeanor has appeared at times a bit on edge this season.

"It is, of course, the first time that Mercedes and the first time ever that Toto Wolff have been in the situation where they are being challenged," Horner told Channel 4 in Russia.

"He's been in a situation where he came into the team, the drivers were already signed, the engine was already in place.

"He's done a great job to keep the team winning, but he didn't really have any competition. This is the first time it's a true scrap, it's a true competition."

• Read also: Mercedes 'assessing' engine plans amid reliability concerns

As different personalities and characters, Horner and Wolff exhibit different leadership styles in their respective working environments, starting with the vantage point from where they oversee the action on weekends.

"There's a respect between the teams, but we operate in different ways," noted Horner.

"I very much want to be on the front line, sitting on the pit wall with the strategists and the engineers, while Toto is in the garage next to the press guy.

"It's different functions, different roles, different outlooks, but the competition is fierce. That's the key thing about this championship.

"We're loving the competition and the more Toto gets wound up, the more fun it becomes."

As the F1 season prepares to enter its final leg, Horner believes Red Bull can prevail against its arch-rival, but the Briton admits the raging bulls will need to bring their A- game at every round.

"The next 12 weeks will determine whether we win a championship or not," he said. "We have cup finals, basically, to ensure that we deliver at our very best.

"Mercedes are beatable, but it's only if we are at our best that we can succeed.

"We have already proved that we can do it, we've proved to ourselves we can do it, because we got ourselves into that position."

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