Christian Horner has hit back in the war of words with rival Toto Wolff and accused the Mercedes boss of being a “pantomime dame”.
The Red Bull team principal was responding to claims made earlier this week by Wolff that Horner was a “protagonist in a pantomime”.
Mercedes have dominated since the start of the hybrid era in 2014, taking over from Red Bull who won both titles for the previous four years between 2010-2013.
This is the first season that Mercedes has faced a sustained challenge in both title fights, with Red Bull trailing by just 23 points in the constructors, while Max Verstappen leads Lewis Hamilton by 12 points in the drivers’ fight.
As the season has progressed, there has been a growing tension between the team bosses, with not-so-subtle digs at each other. Horner’s latest being to congratulate Wolff on his seven years of success:
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“He’s done well with the team he has inherited,” Horner said ahead of this weekend’s Mexican GP.
With just five races in six weeks remaining, tensions are starting to boil over and it is no longer just a battle on the track.
“We all know that Toto has a lot to say. I was quite flattered actually, being called a protagonist,” Horner said.
“If you look at what the definition of that means, you also need an antagonist to have a protagonist and one could say that perhaps Toto fills that role pretty well.
“If it were a pantomime, maybe a pantomime dame role might suit him.
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“But it is all about what goes on on track and I think it is a great competition between the teams. It is no holds barred, pit wall against pit wall, driver against driver, engine supplier against engine supplier and chassis against chassis.
“It is fantastic. We are loving it and occasionally you are going to get some flak thrown at you but I take it with a pinch of salt and sometimes, even as a compliment.”
Wolff also suggested earlier this week that either driver could try to win the championship using dirty tactics, just as Ayrton Senna did in 1990 when he crashed into rival Alain Prost, handing the Brazilian the title.
Both Verstappen and Hamilton were eager to distance themselves from those comments and any suggestion of it, with both insisting that they would only win the right way. Horner also distanced himself from that idea, describing it as “disappointing”.
“I think we want a really fair fight between now and the end of the championship, and I think any driver would want to win the championship on-track,” Horner said.
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“We’re a team of racers. If we can pull off this feat, and it’s a massive, massive task, then we wouldn’t want to win a championship through a collision between the drivers. There’s been enough of those this year already.
He added: “Nobody wants to see a championship decided in a gravel trap.”
Verstappen stamped his authority on the weekend, dominating Friday practice at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, a track which favours the Red Bull due to the high altitude here, more than 2,000m above sea level. Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was second, a sizable 4 tenths adrift of the Red Bull.
It was a scrappy afternoon session for Hamilton, who had some track times deleted for various infractions and was languishing in 19th on the timesheet for a while, before putting together a better lap to finish the day third quickest.
