Red Bull chief Christian Horner namedrops Mercedes boss Toto Wolff in surprise F1 verdict

Despite their rivalry in recent years, Red Bull chief Christian Horner has conceded that Mercedes chief Toto Wolff is doing a great job in the sport and that he has a lot of respect for him.

Horner and his opposite number Wolff have been embroiled in a fierce rivalry since Mercedes' dominant era in the mid to late 2010s, but it especially came to a head during the almighty 2021 championship battle.

That year, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen went head to head, with the championship ending in highly controversial circumstances at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Since then, prior to this season, Verstappen and Red Bull have gone on to dominate the sport. However, Horner has now said that his Mercedes counterpart has done a 'great job' at the team, with Mercedes now sitting above Red Bull in the constructors' championship, a rare sight since that 2021 season.

"I came into the sport in the days of Ron Dennis, Jean Todt, Flavio Briatore, Frank Williams and Bernie Ecclestone," Horner told Bild. "They were gentlemen.

"Back then, you tried to beat each other by any means necessary on the track and then shake hands again.

"Unfortunately, times have changed a bit, there's more whispering than talking straight, but there are still a lot of people today that I respect. Stefano Domenicali is one of them. Toto Wolff is also doing a great job at Mercedes."

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Red Bull's 2025 struggles

Red Bull's dominance over the rest of the field began to wane in 2024, when Lando Norris was able to challenge Verstappen for the drivers' championship and McLaren pipped the Milton Keynes-based outfit to the constructors' title.

In 2025, their struggles have been even more evident, with the team currently sat down in fourth in the constructors' standings, and Verstappen's hopes of a fifth consecutive title beginning to fade.

Part of that has been down to the remarkable rise of McLaren under the stewardship of Andrea Stella and Zak Brown, who has seemingly become Horner's latest nemesis.

The Red Bull boss was caught on Netflix's Drive to Survive show calling the American a 'p****', during a tumultuous time when Horner was under investigation for alleged inappropriate behaviour against a female colleague, something he denied and was later cleared of by an internal Red Bull investigation.

Since then, the two teams have been involved in fierce championship battles, while Wolff's Mercedes have languished behind the two teams, perhaps acting as a cooling-off period for the rivalry between Wolff and Horner.

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