Mercedes F1 chief Toto Wolff slams 'entitled' Christian Horner

Toto Wolff and Christian Horner — Photo: © IMAGO

Wolff v Horner

Toto Wolff slams 'entitled' Christian Horner

Toto Wolff and Christian Horner are F1 rivals

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 22 December 2025 08:21

Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff has said that the 'entitlement' felt by Christian Horner ultimately led to his sacking from Red Bull.

Horner and Wolff were rivals in the sport over a period that spanned over 11 seasons, but the rivalry became more fierce as the years went by, exacerbated by the 2021 championship fight between the two teams and their drivers.

Both teams have suffered a drop off in recent years, however, as McLaren have won back-to-back constructors' titles.

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And in Red Bull's case, that caused a rejig of their top team, sacking Horner back in July with Red Bull down in fourth in the constructors' championship and replacing him with Laurent Mekies.

Wolff has a much more harmonious relationship with Mekies than he had with Horner, but did admit recently that he misses his old enemy being on the grid.

Now, Wolff has told the Telegraph one of the things he found most frustrating about Horner was his unwillingness to admit mistakes. Wolff was talking about the Abu Dhabi showdown in 2021, and the fact Horner never accepted that race director Michael Masi's decision was wrong that day.

"He was never able to admit it," Wolff said. "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.

"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."

What happened in Abu Dhabi 2021?

Lewis Hamilton - chasing a record-breaking eighth world title - and Max Verstappen headed into the season-ending event in Abu Dhabi level on points in 2021, and Hamilton's dominance throughout most of the race made it look like he would claim the title.

But a controversial decision by then-race director Masi to let some lapped cars overtake a late safety car following Nicholas Latifi's crash, allowed Red Bull to put Verstappen on fresh tyres directly behind Hamilton.

And Verstappen took full advantage with a last lap overtake on Hamilton to claim his maiden world championship title, sparking emotional scenes.

Masi left his role as race director in the aftermath of that race after what proved to be a misinterpretation of the rules, but recently, far from over the circumstances around the title loss, Wolff recently called Masi a 'lunatic' for the decision.

F1 Red Bull Mercedes Christian Horner Toto Wolff