Red Bull team principal Christian Horner opens up about his rivalry with Mercedes’ Toto Wolff

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner spoke up about his feud with Mercedes' Toto Wolff. The Briton was seen heading into the Mercedes pit garage to congratulate Wolff after a chaotic end to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

While their respective drivers battled on track, both team principals often took the battle off-track, making sly comments about each other in press conferences and interviews. The 2021 season saw a full-blown war of words between the two championship-contending teams. In the spirit of sportsmanship, however, Horner ran to congratulate Wolff at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

In an exclusive interview with Indian news channel WION, Horner highlighted his thought process during his encounter with his rival:

“Yeah, look. At the end of the day, we’re a sport. We are not saving lives. Sport is fierce, it’s competitive, but there has to a respect at the end of it. It’s been a long, hard, tough year last season and that’s why I went to see Toto following the end of the race. Unfortunately, he wasn’t about, but I did manage to speak to Lewis and his father.”

Max Verstappen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the final lap, giving Red Bull their first drivers' title win since 2013. The team, however, lost out to Mercedes in the constructors' trophy, granting the German team an eighth consecutive category win.

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Red Bull's Christian Horner congratulated Toto Wolff on constructors' title victory

In another display of goodwill, Christian Horner revealed that he received a congratulatory message from Toto Wolff after the dust had settled in Abu Dhabi. The Austrian executive messaged the Briton despite having initially protested the FIA's result. Horner told the media:

“I went to see Toto after the race. Unfortunately, he was unavailable. Then Toto, later in the evening, as he said to Max, he sent me a text congratulating us on the Drivers’ World Championship. I congratulated him on winning the Constructors’ World Championship and reminded him that’s where the money is paid, not the drivers, and that was it. I haven’t heard or spoken with him since.”

The Red Bull boss reminded Wolff that the money needed to develop a competent car comes from winning the constructors' title, which the German team has now managed to do eight years in a row. Although much of the media's focus is on the drivers' title, teams benefit greatly from winning the constructors' trophy, which in the eyes of many is more significant.

Despite Lewis Hamilton's return being contingent on the results of the ongoing FIA inquiry, Red Bull and Mercedes are likely to give fans maximum entertainment in 2022.