Christian Horner has revealed how his relationship with Toto Wolff is for the start of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship, after the highly controversial and tense end to the 2021 season. With relations between Red Bull and Mercedes deteriorating over the course of the 2021 campaign, Horner said the relationship has thawed to one of a mutual respect to kick off the new season. "[2021] was a hugely intense fight," Horner told media, including RacingNews365.com , during a press session in Bahrain. "As far as relationships with Toto [are], whilst there is an intense rivalry, there's still a respect at the end of the day." With Ferrari appearing to have the pace to get involved in the fight at the front this year, Horner welcomed the possibility of adding the Scuderia's boss, Mattia Binotto, to the lead battle. "We'll be competing hard again this year and it looks like some of our colleagues will be in that fight as well," he said. "Hopefully, I think that could even make it even more exciting!"
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Horner addresses Wolff rivalry as presented by Netflix
With Horner and Wolff both becoming TV stars for a wider audience through their bickering being showcased on the Netflix documentary series Drive to Survive, Horner was asked for his opinion on how he and Wolff are portrayed on the show. Referring specifically to the 2021 F1 campaign, which is the focus of the fourth season of the TV show, Horner said there are always elements presented in such a way to ramp up the entertainment factor. "Obviously, last year was a hugely intense series, and Drive to Survive, at the end of day, is a television show," he said. "They're taking snippets from a season-long battle and turning that into a television programme and, of course, the effect of that has been a dramatic uptake in the followship of Formula 1, but one has to remember it is designed, ultimately, to entertain. "Elements are taken from it sometimes that aren't even from the race in question."
Horner takes another cheeky dig at Wolff
Not one to shy away from a chance to make a joke at Wolff's expense, Horner commented on the Mercedes boss' predilection for taking off his headphones in anger during moments of on-track stress. "It was an intense battle with Mercedes last year. You can see the amount of headsets that Toto went through during the course of the season was unprecedented!" Horner wryly said. "There's a fierce rivalry between the teams and that's sport, that's competition. I think this documentary lifts the lid a little bit on the intensities and the pressures of F1. "I haven't seen it in its entirety, but I'm sure there'll be plenty of action and drama in there and that's what we had throughout last year from the first race in [Bahrain] to the last race in Abu Dhabi."
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