ABU DHABI — Christian Horner laughed off Toto Wolff calling him a “yapping little terrier” and said the Mercedes boss should be focused on Lewis Hamilton‘s send-off weekend instead of George Russell‘s feud with Max Verstappen.
On Thursday, Wolff joined his driver Russell’s open media session to defend him against what he felt had been unfair comments from Horner after last weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix.
Horner had branded Russell “hysterical”, which prompted Wolff to compare him to a dog who “always [has] something to say.”
Horner brushed off the comment on Friday.
“I love terriers, I think they are great dogs! I’ve had four,” a smirking Horner said. ‘To be called a terrier, is that such a bad thing? They are not afraid to have a go at the bigger dogs.”
Aiming a cheeky dig at his Mercedes counterpart’s surname, the Red Bull boss added: “I’d rather be called a terrier than a wolf, maybe…”
With Hamilton set for his last race with Mercedes this weekend before joining Ferrari for the 2025 season, Horner said Wolff’s focus should be elsewhere.
Horner continued: “There seems to be a love-hate relationship where I think Toto loves to hate me. It’s one of these things. I would have assumed he’s got a bit more on his plate with it being Lewis’s last race for that team. I think they should be celebrating that rather than focusing on other aspects.”
Russell and Verstappen’s war of words has dominated the build-up to Formula 1’s final race of the year.
Russell had claimed Verstappen threatened to intentionally crash into him at the Qatar GP and “put me on my f—ing head in the wall.”
Verstappen denied that suggestion, saying “he’s exaggerating again”, before calling Russell a “loser” and a “backstabber.”
Horner said there’s no fear it will spill over onto the track on Sunday.
“Not at all. Max is a very straight shooter, he tells you exactly how he sees it,” Horner said.
“Obviously a lot was made of it yesterday, it’s pantomime season. We are getting ready for Christmas. So there’s maybe some end-of-term blues there but I don’t think it will have any effect on the Grand Prix itself.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Horner took his driver’s version of events: “Max does nothing but tell the truth, so I believe 100% what he said to be accurate. Of course there’s other people in those stewards rooms as well, and they also came back and reported that they were quite surprised at the approach that was taken.”
Wolff and Horner have a long-standing grudge going back several years, one which has provided several viral moments in the smash hit Netflix documentary series ‘Drive to Survive’.
When asked if Wolff’s latest insult had reopened old wounds between them, Horner said: “Not really. Toto’s quite dramatic as we all know.
“I wasn’t talking about the psychology of his driver. When I was referring to hysterics I was more referring to the roasting that he gave his team when they fitted a set of hards onto the car when he’d asked for a set of mediums and expressed his displeasure for the tyre choice that they’d put on the car.
“I’d get fined if I were to repeat the language he used in this press conference. A lot has been said, we know Toto likes to talk a lot but that’s the way it is.”
