Mercedes boss Toto Wolff opens up on ‘brutal’ tensions with Christian Horner and Red Bull

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has spoken of his desire to move on from the ‘brutal’ tensions between the Silver Arrows and Red Bull that plagued last season’s Drivers’ Championship battle. The two teams were at each other’s throats both on and off the track over the course of 2021 before Max Verstappen emerged ahead of Lewis Hamilton to clinch the honours at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Mercedes and Red Bull traded plenty of blows throughout the season by protesting the legality of each other’s cars at times and clashing over the result of the decisive race in Abu Dhabi.

Wolff and Horner were no strangers to launching thinly-veiled digs at one another over the course of the campaign.

The year-long battle for supremacy between Hamilton and Verstappen also did little to ease tensions due to the highly-contested nature of their bitter rivalry.

However, Wolff has since admitted that he would like to leave his fractured relationship with Horner and Red Bull in the past and look forward to a new start ahead of the upcoming season.

“It’s to be expected,” the Mercedes boss told reporters at Wednesday’s pre-season test.

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“It got fierce at times and brutal, but there’s a lot at stake, it’s a Formula One world championship and there’s the fighting on track and the fighting off track for advantages.

“So that’s okay, but we need to move on. There’s been so much talk about Abu Dhabi that it came to a point that it’s really damaging for all of us stakeholders of F1, and we’ve closed the chapter and moved on.

“Now it’s about 2022, the game is on again, all points to zero, and new opportunity and new risk.”

Wolff’s comments were echoed by Horner, who highlighted the clean slate awaiting Mercedes and Red Bull despite insisting that he will never agree with the Silver Arrows over the controversial events that unfolded in Abu Dhabi.

“I think maybe we share differences of opinion over Abu Dhabi, but that’s all done and dusted and all focus is very much now on 2022,” added Horner.

“I think what you saw last year was a fantastic competition from the first race to the last race. I think that’s been a key part of Formula One’s revival in popularity.

“It has been that competition, so certainly we hope there will be an equally exciting year, although ideally a little less exciting at times.

“I think there could be some other competitors joining that battle as well. So particularly with a clean sheet of paper, with these brand new cars, it’s a complete reset.

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“It’s arguably the biggest regulation change in the last 40 years, but I’m sure the intensity of rivalry between the teams and the drivers will be as pertinent as ever.”

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether Mercedes and Red Bull will get into another hotly-contested scrap for F1 glory when the new season begins in Bahrain next month.

Both teams have been in action at pre-season testing in Barcelona this week in order to push the development of their new cars before the campaign gets underway.

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