Secret friends? Red Bull's Christian Horner explains viral photo with F1 rival and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff
The Red Bull and Mercedes team bosses famously don’t usually see eye-to-eye amid a bitter rivaꦅlry between their teams and drivers, leading to several off-track clashes tha✅t have sparked regular war of words.
But Horner and W♌olff appeared to (briefly, at least) put aside their differences when they shared a rare moment in the Yas Marina paddock following last month’s season finale in Abuꦺ Dhabi.
A photo of the pair smiling and laughing together as they posed for the c♏amera was captured and soon went viral on social media.
1996 world champion Damon Hill revealed there had been a genui🐼nely nice moment between the duo, having wit🗹nessed Wolff and Horner speaking outside of the Red Bull hospitality before the photo was taken.
That end of season feeling
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing)
The picture prompted Horner to be asked whether he and Wolff are secretly friends in an interview with Sk🧜y Sports News on Wednesday.
“There has to be respect at the end of the day and what the Mercedes team achieved during their dominant period wa🐎s phenomenal and they still are a fantastically strong team,” the Red Bull🥃 chief said.
“We’ve enjoyed a great year and we haven’t seen much of Mercedes this year, so it was just a moment at the end of the𒅌 season. But there has to be respect at the end of the day. The racing needs to be contained to be💜ing on the track.”
But when asked if he would like to see a stronger ♏Mercedes next season,🍌 Horner quickly answered with a smirk: “Not really.”
Speaking to Austrian publication OE24, Wolff ♌shed some light on how the photo꧑ came about.
"That was on the way out of t📖he paddock,” he said. “There was a nice group around Mark Mateschitz, his mother and a few people I know well.
﷽“I joined them﷽ and had a nice chat with Geri [Halliwell, Horner's wife] and that's how the photo came about.
"Friends? The last handshake was maybe in 2021, before the last race. But you𓂃 have to acknowledge your compಌetitor's achievements. I respect what the Red Bull team has achieved.”
On Wednesday♍, Horner led a chorus of unified responses from F1 teams insisting they had not complained to the FIA about the conduct of Wolff and his wife Susie amid allegations 💧of a conflict of interest reportedly involving the pair.
Lewis regular🗹ly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the s♔port.
