© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff and Red Bull team boss Christian Horner have faced the press together at the Friday Abu Dhabi Grand Prix press conference.
Toto Wolff and Christian Horner have had a lot of disagreements throughout 2021, but ahead of the last race of the season, they appear to have decided to bury the hatchet.
At the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Friday press conference Wolff offered his hand to Horner and said: “Good luck. May the best man and the best team win”.
Horner accepted the offer and talked about their relationship in 2021.
“We’re competing for two of the biggest trophies in sport and the competition is intense,” the Briton said.
“I think, as characters, obviously we’re quite different, but we share a same intensity, the same competitiveness.
“I will defend my team, I will defend my driver… both drivers to the hilt, because that’s what you do. That’s who you represent, that’s who you look to protect.
“There’s been competition on-track, off-track, and it’s been pushing the boundaries, and Toto has done the same from his side.”
Horner added that he doesn’t want to fake how he feels in the heat of the battle.
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“It has got heated and I think that’s sport. For me, it would be artificial to sit here all throughout the season and be all smiles with your biggest competitor.
“I can’t do that, because that wouldn’t be being true, it wouldn’t be being honest. Emotions all over, we’re in a competitive sport.
“That’s Formula 1, it shows the intensity of the competition, the intensity between the teams. It’s given you guys [journalists] something to write about, but I think it’s just been honest, more than anything.
“It would be totally fake to sit here and say how much we love each other and that we’re going to go on holiday after this weekend.”
He them turned to Wolff and said: “Because I’m not going on holiday with you after this weekend, by the way!”
“It wouldn’t be much fun,” Wolff joked.
The Austrian then gave his opinion on their relationship this season.
“I would agree with Christian, I think there is mutual respect for the job that the other team has done,” Wolff said.
“They wouldn’t be where they are, competing for these championships all along, but it is just too intense.
“I stand for the team and the interest of the team, and that can be fierce at times, because it’s not only the drivers who are battling on track. It’s a fight for an advantage in the regulations.
“Obviously, we have also certain biases that come from different perspectives and different perceptions.
“I can understand that rationally, but if things go against the team, or against the two drivers, I can get quite emotional in the moment.
“Christian has his own way of dealing with it, as he said, very different personalities. But it is justified for this trophy, and one of the most important prizes in sport is a World Championship.
“That’s why you cannot expect a lot of shmoozing between drivers, team principals and all the team,” Wolff concluded.
