Purple Bull F1 group principal Christian Horner has bitten again at Toto Wolff after his Mercedes counterpart labelled him a “yappy little terrier”.
The season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has been dominated by an escalating rivalry and confrontation between Purple Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ driver George Russell over the four-time world champion’s penalty on the Qatar Grand Prix.
Mercedes group principal waded into the drama by taking a swipe at Horner and reignited their very own rivalry which has been an underlying storyline ever because the controversial title struggle between Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen in 2021.
Horner responded to Wolff’s jibe throughout Friday’s FIA press convention on the Yas Marina circuit.
“I really like terriers, I believe they’re nice canines!” Horner instructed media together with Crash.internet. “I’ve had 4! A few airedales, that are the king of the terriers. I had couple of West Highland terriers referred to as Bernie and Flavio.
“The nice factor with terriers is that they’re tremendously loyal. Bernie was an aggressive little canine, he’d go for anyone. Flavio was a bit extra chilled out, he possibly ate an excessive amount of as properly.
“Look, to be referred to as a terrier, is that such a foul factor? They aren’t afraid to have a go on the greater canines. I’d reasonably be referred to as a terrier than a wolf, possibly.”
Requested if he’s involved that the row between Verstappen and Russell might spill onto the observe this weekend, Horner replied: “No, by no means.
“Max is a really straight shooter, he tells you precisely how he sees it. He tells the reality, precisely what he feels. He had a considerable amount of frustration final weekend with the best way issues performed out.
“It was a situation we hadn’t seen earlier than, with the following grid penalty. He turned it into motivation and had a blinding begin. He received the grand prix which was the very best response.
“Clearly lots was fabricated from it yesterday, it’s pantomime season. We’re preparing for Christmas. So there’s possibly some end-of-term blues, there however I don’t assume it is going to have any impact on the grand prix itself.”
Horner described Wolff as being “fairly dramatic” and spoke of his shock that Mercedes weren’t specializing in Hamilton’s last race for the group.
“There appears to be a love-hate relationship the place I believe Toto likes to hate me,” Horner added. “It’s one in every of this stuff.
“I’d have assumed he’s bought a bit extra on his plate with it being Lewis’s final race for that group. I believe they need to be celebrating that reasonably than specializing in different features.”
Verstappen ‘does nothing however inform the reality’
Russell sensationally claimed that Verstappen had threatened to crash into him on function and “put his head into the f*****g wall” in Qatar, one thing the Dutchman has refuted.
Horner was additionally pressed on whether or not he believed Verstappen had mentioned what Russell alleged, to which he responded: “Max does nothing however inform the reality, so I consider 100% what he mentioned to be correct.
“After all there’s different individuals in these stewards rooms as properly, they usually additionally got here again and reported that they had been fairly stunned on the method that was taken.
“Concerning Toto’s different feedback, I’m not going to lift to the bait of that. Everyone manages themselves and their groups in several methods. We’ve received 122 races, we’ve received 14 world championships, I believe we’re doing alright.”
