I know what you’re thinking and yes — of course that drivers’ spat spilled into the relationship between their respective team principals, Toto Wolff and Christian Horner.
As our correspondent Luke Smith reported, it was Red Bull chief Horner who spoke at yesterday’s FIA press conference — fresh from being described by his Mercedes counterpart as a “yapping little terrier” on Thursday, amid the erupting feud between George Russell and Max Verstappen.
Instead of an escalation of the war of words, Horner appeared to make light of a lot of the situation:
💬 “It’s pantomime season. We’re getting ready for Christmas. There’s maybe an element of end of term blues there. But I don’t think it’ll have any effect on the grand prix itself.”
In response to the “yapping little terrier” comment, Horner joked he loved terriers and that he’d owned four of them himself. Then, in what must have been a pre-planned line, he said:
💬 “To be called a terrier, is that such a bad thing? They’re not afraid to have a go at the bigger dogs. I’d rather be a terrier than a wolf, maybe.”
The relationship between Horner and Wolff has always been frosty, particularly after the intensity of the title battle between their respective teams in 2021.
But Horner did not feel this latest round of sparring had reopened any old wounds, simply saying that Wolff could be “quite dramatic” and “likes to talk a lot”. Horner added:
💬 “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.”
And yes, the photo is from Abu Dhabi… at the end of last season.
