Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff has taken another jab at long-time rival Christian Horner while discussing the latter's departure from Red Bull, suggesting that the Briton’s downfall was written in his own hubris.
Horner, who spent two decades at the helm of the Milton Keynes-based F1 outfit, guiding the team to multiple Constructors’ and Drivers’ championships, was dismissed following last summer’s British Grand Prix, ending one of the sport’s most high-profile rivalries in the paddock.
Wolff’s critique of Horner came during a discussion of the infamous 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton lost the world title to Max Verstappen under controversial Safety Car circumstances.
“I talked to Lewis about it yesterday,” Wolff told The Telegraph. “I think about it every day and so does he.”
“It’s stayed with the team, too. Both were deserving champions, but the referee made a bad call, to use a football analogy, and you can’t reverse it. The goal has been scored, the game is finished.”
A Lack of Introspection, a Dash of Hubris
Wolff did not hold back in dissecting Horner’s personality, suggesting that a refusal to reflect on past mistakes and a “sense of entitlement” sealed his fate.
“He was never able to admit it,” Wolff said, referencing Horner’s inability to acknowledge that the controversial 2021 title outcome was problematic.
“I try to look at it from the other side – and from their point of view, they deserved to be world champions, they had had some incidents that were unfair to them throughout the season, and the outcome of that race is a fair representation of the performance levels during the season.
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“But Christian was never able to admit the same – that if it was the other way round and had happened to them that day, it would have been catastrophic, and he would have come up with all kinds of insults.
“And I think that the ability to be introspective or be able to see the other side with some compassion is a total gap in his personality.
“It’s the sense of entitlement he has. And that bit him in the end, because he felt entitled to all the power, and Red Bull didn’t want to give him that power.”
Wolff and Horner were F1’s most combustible off-track rivals for a lengthy period of time, with Wolff previously describing Horner as a “yapping little terrier” following a fallout over Verstappen and George Russell at the close of the 2024 season.
Horner, meanwhile, is reportedly seeking a new F1 role after agreeing to a severance deal with Red Bull that will allow him to return to the paddock in 2026, leaving fans and insiders wondering where the former Red Bull chief’s next move will land.
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