"Who do I hate now?": Mercedes boss Toto Wolff's rare acceptance of his weird bond with former Red Bull boss Christian Horner

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has admitted that it was an interesting and slightly odd bond he shared with former rival and Red Bull boss Horner. The Brit was leading the Austrian squad, and in many ways, it had a lot of his imprints. Throughout his career, Horner was seen as someone who was quite dogged and belligerent, and the squad tended to have that imprint as well.

While this was evident, it also helped Red Bull, as the squad would go on to win as many as 14 world championships under his reign. Things, however, did not remain as rosy as Horner would have hoped, as the Brit was pushed out of the team and fired with immediate effect by the board.

While this happened, it also led to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff becoming the most experienced boss on the F1 grid. Wolff had an interesting chemistry with Horner as well, as the 2021 F1 season saw not only Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen go to battle, but also the two bosses doing that as well.

With Horner now gone, Wolff admitted that he does question now who he is going to hate. In a rare moment of acknowledging the bond he shared with Christian Horner, Wolff told Formula.hu,

“If you look at it, it was always an interesting story. Those years, but especially 2021, it wasn’t just about Max and Lewis, it was about Christian and me. And sometimes it was really hard, it’s in every history book and it always will be. You know, he always said that I love to hate him. So who do I hate now? It seems like I have to find someone else.”

Horner operated on a completely different set of values: Mercedes boss Toto Wolff

Talking about the former Red Bull boss, Toto Wolff admitted that Christian Horner had the tendency to be abrasive. The Mercedes boss also added that Horner operated with a completely different set of values compared to him, but even if that was the case, he had been very successful in the sport regardless. Pointing out how maybe now he was the only dinosaur left on the grid, Wolff said,

"What do I think? Well, he's been acting like an asshole quite often in the last 12-15 years. He operates on completely different values, but even your worst enemy has a best friend. On the other hand, he was hugely successful at what he did. Now that he's gone, at least for a while, a real personality has left the sport."

He added,

"He was controversial and divisive, but he was one of the main characters here. You could safely say he was as significant as a great driver. If I look at it purely from an F1 perspective, I don't think there are many old-style team boss dinosaurs left here. Maybe just me. Maybe Fred (Vasseur) is a bit of a dinosaur too,"

While the Mercedes boss continues to focus on bringing the team back to the front, one cannot count out Horner because, one way or another, he is going to find a way back to the sport in a capacity that is bigger than what he had at Red Bull.

Whether we see Mercedes' revival or not is going to be interesting next season, but it would be intriguing to see if Christian Horner returns to the grid and is a factor once again.