F1 News & Gossip

Wolff launches astonishing Horner ATTACK in Abu Dhabi 2021 rant

Christian Horner and Toto Wolff's rivalry continues

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Thursday 16 January 2025 12:56

Toto Wolff has launched an astonishing attack aimed at Christian Horner in a 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix rant.

The Mercedes team principal and Red Bull boss have a fierce rivalry stretching back to the 2021 season, where both of their star drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, vied for the championship.

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Hamilton and Verstappen’s rivalry on-track often resulted in controversial moments, with dramatic incidents in Silverstone, Monza and Saudi Arabia, often forcing their two bosses to take the fight off the track, and deliver fiery exchanges via the press.

Fast forward three years, and Wolff’s relationship with Horner remains strained, as the two exchanged verbal blows once again at the end of the 2024 season.

Toto Wolff and Christian Horner remain rivals

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fought for the title in 2021

Wolff and Horner’s rivalry rages on

Following an off-track dispute between Verstappen and George Russell, Horner defended his driver which resulted in Wolff labelling his rival team principal as a ‘yapping little terrier’.

It also appears that the result of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP still lingers in Wolff’s mind, as he attacked Horner’s attitude after the race in a recent podcast appearance.

Hamilton famously lost the championship on the last lap to Verstappen, after race director Michael Masi incorrectly applied the rulebook which forced a restart on the final lap, with cars in between Hamilton and Verstappen being allowed to unlap themselves.

Speaking on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Wolff attacked Horner for his response after the devastating loss for Hamilton and Mercedes, where he branded his rival ‘entitled’.

"I felt the other side, not Max, but there was not one sentence saying ‘that was a difficult day for Mercedes, they were both deserving champions today it went against Mercedes’," Wolff said.

"There was not one word from Christian or the other team [Red Bull] in acknowledging that. It was like entitlement. We would have said it."

Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Christian Horner Toto Wolff