Red Bull boss Christian Horner insisted that his rivalry with his Mercedes AMG F1 counterpart was “nothing personal” but that he had enjoyed watching Toto Wolff get angry on several occasions during races last year, in particular when the Austrian was seen raging on TV.

In 2021, the Red Bull and Mercedes teams were involved in a bitter battle for the world championship right up until the final race of the season, with the drivers’ title decided in controversial circumstances. During the course of last season, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen had several heated moments on the track and the battle between Red Bull and Mercedes also continued off the track with both team bosses Christian Horner and Toto Wolff not shying away from publicly sparring with each other using the media.

The atmosphere between the two men was at times very tense, but Christian Horner insisted that there was nothing personal against Toto Wolff but that he had enjoyed putting Mercedes under pressure after years of absolute domination in the premier class by the German manufacturer’s team.

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“It was nothing personal. Toto is Toto, and he has done a phenomenal job with Mercedes,” Horner told Sky Sports whilst laughing.

“He obviously came into the sport from a very different background to me, he was more on the financial side of things. And it’s very easy to get on his nerves, and it shows,

“Sometimes it affects him. So of course when you’re competing – and last year was very intense because it was the first time he was in that situation – it’s always interesting to see how people react.”

“When they break headphones, you can see that you’ve reached them,” concludes Christian Horner with a touch of humour, referring to the scenes seen on TV during which the Mercedes boss does not hesitate to throw his headphones against his desk when he is upset.

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