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Christian Horner didn't hold back when talking about his rival team principal Toto Wolff during the Qatar Grand Prix press conference on Friday.
After Wolff admitted he was not surprised to see Mercedes' "Right to Review" request against Max Verstappen denied by the FIA, Horner spoke about the increasing friction between the two. He said:
“I don’t need to go to dinner with Toto, I don’t need to kiss his a**e or anything like that. It is a competition, it is great that we are in this position and fighting for the drivers' championship and the constructors' championship, and it is the first time in seven years they have been challenged."
The incident in question involved Max Verstappen allegedly driving his championship rival and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton off-track at the Brazil Grand Prix. Hamilton, however, overcame the incident and went on to win the race, closing up the gap in the drivers’ championship to 14 points with three races remaining.
Max Verstappen was not penalized for the incident. Following the release of new onboard footage, Mercedes launched an appeal against the stewards' decision.
The FIA defended their original decision, stating that they need to act quickly and with limited information.
At the press conference of the first-ever Qatar Grand Prix held at the Losail International Circuit outside Doha, Christian Horner defended the decision, saying:
"Obviously the right decision as it would open Pandora’s Box on other decisions that happened at that race.”
Christian Horner's prime argument was that if race officials allowed Mercedes the right to review, all teams would then bring up instances from the Brazil Grand Prix which they were unsatisfied with. He believes that all race-related decisions must be dished out over the duration of the race, and not after.
Tension grows between Christian Horner and Toto Wolff
There have been plenty of instances of bad-blood between Christian Horner and Toto Wolff as the duo look to bring home the 2021 drivers' and constructors' championships. During the press conference, Christian Horner revealed the pair do not share a relationship, saying:
“There is no relationship. There is competition.”
Christian Horner, however, went on to say that he has respect for everything Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton have done for the sport:
“The sport is a a big winner out of this and I just hope we have a hard and fair fight between now and the end of the season. Toto and I are very different characters and operate in different ways. Am I going to be spending Christmas with Toto? Probably not. Unless you’re in panto this year, I might take the kids.”
Toto responded in a similar vein, comparing the sport of F1 to MMA. He said:
"Olympic boxing went to pro boxing and is now MMA.”
Toto ended the press conference by stating that the competition is very high between Mercedes and Red Bull and that the championship still has a long way to go.
