Toto Wolff and Christian Horner sitting side-by-side for 30 minutes? It was sure to get interesting. And it did! All eyes were on Friday’s press conference as the two nemeses faced the cameras together. The session shared by the Mercedes and Red Bull bosses did not disappoint as temperatures rose in the desert land of Qatar.

To say the conversation was dramatic would be an understatement. After the tension-filled weekend in Brazil, the pressures of the championship reflected on both bosses. However, it was Christian Horner who brought some heavy machinery to the war. While sitting next to the Austrian, Horner said, “I don’t need to go to dinner with Toto. I don’t need to kiss his a*s. A few other team principles might.”

A heavy statement on Horner’s part, Wolff doesn’t look to bring out the olive twig either. “You cannot expect that you’re going to dinner with your rival or with a rival team or your enemy in sporting competition, irrespective of personalities and the characters.”

Read more: What Is the Famous Race of Champions?

Wolff also went on to compare the championship battle to MMA. “What started as Olympic boxing went to pro boxing and is now MMA. Elbows are allowed now because the rules say so, and the gloves are off. Nothing else is to be expected.”

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FIA rejects Mercedes’ right to review amidst Red Bull drama

The FIA releasing its statement regarding Mercedes’ right to review the Turn 4 incident in Brazil added to the tensions in the press conference room. In the middle of a Horner-Wolff conference? Surely everyone in the room broke a sweat.

After the stewards heard from representatives from both teams on Thursday, they made the final decision. Now, Verstappen is free from any retrospective penalties for the Brazilian GP.

Wolff had a simple, yet disappointed reaction. “Completely expected.” Explaining that Mercedes didn’t expect an outcome, the boss explained, “We wanted to trigger discussion around it because it probably will be a theme. We didn’t think it would go any further.”

Horner gave his immediate reaction as well. Unsurprisingly, he believed it was the right decision. “Otherwise, it would have opened a Pandora’s box regarding a whole bunch of other incidents that happened in that race.”

It is almost predictable for such crossfire to occur as the title fight funnels to three more rounds. Nonetheless, the focus should now be on the Qatar GP. A new track with no historical data to back on; it’s sure to get interesting. Further, with Red Bull setting the marker in FP1 and Mercedes claiming the top spot in FP2, anything is possible.

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