Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has revealed the true nature of the relationship between Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.
The clear rivalry between the pair has sometimes spilled out in public, with tense moments during press conferences showing the frosty nature of the pair’s relationship.
Steiner notes in his new book, ‘Surviving to Drive’, how the pair have such a strong feud that it impacted a dinner between team bosses and Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.
“I bet he’s careful about the seating plan,” Steiner explained.
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“He’s not daft. Christian will be at the opposite end to Toto.”
Wolff hasn’t shied away from hitting out at Horner, recently claiming in an interview that the Red Bull team principal is “obsessed” with him, stating that he is living “rent-free” in Horner’s head.
The latest season of the Netflix series Drive to Survive showed the friction between the team bosses, as an argument broke out over the new era of regulations.
“A lot of people ask me if the whole Christian versus Toto think that you see on Drive to Survive is completely for real. ‘Do they really hate each other?’ Blah blah blah… If those guys aren’t cuddling all the time, why should I care?
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“I said earlier that the thing that stops us from killing each other is that, despite us working for different teams, we are all working for, and all care about, Formula 1. Toto and Christian are a case in point.
“Sometimes in the moment I think they probably do want to kill each other, the same as I would sometimes like to kill the little s*** who questions our relationship with Ferrari.
“At the end of the day, though, we are all in this together and as much as I disagree with what this guy thinks, just like Christian will disagree with Toto sometimes and vice versa, we have to remember that ultimately we all sit under the same tree. If we didn’t remember that, we’d be kicking the s*** out of each other all the time.”