Beloved enemies
Respectively at the helm of Red Bull and Mercedes, Christian Horner and Toto Wolff have created one of the most intense rivalries between team principals in the history of Formula 1. A dualism that reached its peak in the controversial 2021 season, the one with the Abu Dhabi epilogue and the no-holds-barred world championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, the eventual winner.
The two managers, among the most successful in history, have created a rivalry that is difficult to repeat, both on a political and media level.
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The backstory of the farewell message
In the episode of Drive to Survive dedicated to his dismissal from Red Bull, Christian Horner shared an interesting behind-the-scenes story, namely the last exchange of messages and jabs with his great rival, Toto Wolff.
The Austrian wrote to him: “I don’t know what to say, because on one hand you’ve been a real a**hole, but on the other, the sport will miss one of its main protagonists principal. Who should I fight and ‘love and hate’, as you always told me? Wolff and Horner have won 14 of the last 15 world championships together. Not a bad statistic.”
The response from Horner was along the same lines: “I really enjoyed competing with you all these years. So thank you for the rivalry, for the competition, and for the tension. No one else has even come close, as the statistics show. I wish you all the best. PS. You need to get a haircut!”.
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