Christian Horner may have said that Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase (Max’s race engineer) are “like an old, married couple.” As true as that may be, if a similar relationship exists between team principals, there’s no doubt Horner and Toto Wolff are that old married couple. While they may be the arbiters in the Verstappen-Lewis Hamilton verbal spat, Horner and Wolff have their own back-and-forth going on behind the scenes. 

What Wolff and Mercedes had for seven years from 2014 to 2021—absolute reign over Formula 1—Horner and Red Bull have that now. While Mercedes’ dominance had its own remarkable milestones, what Red Bull is doing now is destined for the record books. Needless to say, Wolff & Co. aren’t enjoying it too much.

Christian Horner ignores Wolff’s backtracking of his Red Bull praise 

Max Verstappen and Red Bull are achieving the unachievable this season. The Dutchman won 10 races in a row. That’s unheard of. Then there’s the Milton-Keynes team’s unbeaten run so far. There’s a first time for everything, they say. While downplaying Verstappen’s dominance, Hamilton said his teammates have always been stronger than Max’s. The Dutchman returned the favor by calling the seven-time champion jealous and gave Mercedes some advice. 

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Wolff initially appreciated Red Bull and Verstappen’s efforts. He gave credit to “a great driver in a great car, competing on an extremely high level”. However, he couldn’t help but join Hamilton with the sly jibes. As per a YouTube video by The Race, “Naturally, if there’s any kind of Mercedes-Red Bull spat developing, it’s essential we hear what Christian Horner and Toto Wolff have to say about it. There’s obviously no love lost between these two either.”

The narrator continued, “[Wolff] called the record Max and Red Bull are currently in the process of shattering ‘completely irrelevant.’”

“We’ll Be Defeated”: Refusing to Be Carried Away With Verstappen’s Success, Horner Keeps His Feet on the Ground

After what Wolff had to say, not getting to hear what Horner had to say would’ve been criminal. But instead of jumping on the insult bandwagon, Horner reportedly said he didn’t want to get drawn into another war of words with Mercedes. Rather, he focused on “praising Verstappen’s driving and very special achievements, saying we shouldn’t detract from those achievements in any way.” Needless to say, Horner strongly stood by Verstappen. 

Toto Wolff looked at Red Bull’s “perfect” record with a different lens

Red Bull has won all 14 races of 2023 so far. As the F1 circus capped off its European leg at the Italian GP, Red Bull did something no one team had ever done before. Reacting to the Milton-Keynes squad’s monumental feat, Horner said, “Knowing that we are leaving Europe unbeaten is just insane!” With just eight more races left in this season, Red Bull is hoping to make it a perfect season. As opposed to what Wolff said about Verstappen’s record, the Mercedes team principal actually said something nice about Red Bull’s record.

He said, “It’s a very beautiful record because it means perfection.” He compared it to Mercedes’ 2016 season. “We didn’t have that because our two drivers crashed in Barcelona in 2016 and because of a broken engine at the Malaysian Grand Prix that year,” he said.

The Spanish GP saw Nico Rosberg and Hamilton take each other out in a first-lap collision while fighting for the lead. Had it not been for Hamilton crashing into Rosberg when pushed wide—plus his engine problems in Malaysia—Mercedes could’ve gotten that perfect record before Red Bull might.

Watch This Story: Max Verstappen and Christian Horner slam Mercedes for trying to ‘take shine off’ F1 title win after Lewis Hamilton drama

How long do you think this verbal tussle between Hamilton and Verstappen will go on? Will Christian Horner and Toto Wolff have to remain arbiters, or will they bring out the big guns themselves?