Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff quipped that he could be “in the sh*t” if ex-Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner decided to return to Formula 1 with the FIA.
Wolff and Horner had shared an intense rivalry during the turbo-hybrid era of the sport, especially since the 2021 season, when Max Verstappen derailed Lewis Hamilton’s run of four consecutive World Championships.
After the Briton’s shock sacking by the Red Bull board earlier this month, Wolff is sure that the 51-year-old will pop back up in the paddock very soon.
That said, he joked that given their combustible relationship in the past, he hopes Horner doesn’t take up a role within the governing body of F1, the FIA.
“I don’t think he’s gone forever,” he told Sky Sports.
“I think he is going to pop up in some kind of other function.
“I need to be careful, he could be rocking up in the FIA and then I’m really in the sh*t. You never know.”
Wolff is monitoring Verstappen situation
Reports coming from the Belgian Grand Prix weekend hint that Wolff is adamant on sticking with his current line-up of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.
Wolff commented on how the situation at Red Bull, with Horner’s departure, suggests a big reshuffle within the ranks.
And with all the speculation surrounding Verstappen’s future, the Austrian wasn’t coy about how he is indeed monitoring the situation.
“I think there is much more in the background that we probably don’t know with Red Bull, the mothership and the whole constellation,” added Wolff.
“Looking at the drivers, in my position as team principal of Mercedes, I need to find out, I need to explore what Max is going to do in the next few years, not only next year.”
And as far as Horner is concerned, while the duo never really looked eye-to-eye, Wolff is saddened to see one of his biggest rivals exit after leading the Milton Keynes-based squad since its inception in 2005.
“[If] you look at it from the main protagonists, he was somebody that was controversial, that was polarising, and not ‘soft-washed’,” he asserted.
“That was good from the entertainment factor and from that perspective he’s clearly going to be missed. His track record speaks for himself.”
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