Christian Horner reveals exactly what was in the message that former rival Toto Wolff sent him after his dismissal from Red Bull. The two were regularly at loggerheads during the Briton’s final years at the Austrian racing team, but Wolff, as Horner reveals in Netflix’ Drive To Survive, was going to miss the former team principal after his departure from Formula 1. ‘On the one hand, you’ve been a real asshole’, Wolff wrote to his British rival. ‘But the sport is really going to miss you.’
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Last July, Christian Horner’s Red Bull career came to an end after twenty years of loyal service. The Briton was replaced by Laurent Mekies, partly due to disappointing results in the first half of the season. During his time at the Austrian team, Red Bull won the drivers’ title eight times – four times with Sebastian Vettel and four times with Max Verstappen – and six constructors’ titles. Horner was thus the second most successful team principal on the grid, behind arch-rival Toto Wolff.
During his final years at the helm with Red Bull, Horner was regularly at loggerheads with Wolff. Nevertheless, the Austrian immediately sent a text message to his former rival after hearing of Horner’s dismissal. In the new season of Netflix’ docuserie Drive To Survive, the Briton reads out Wolff’s message. “I don’t really know what to say, because on the one hand you’ve certainly been a real asshole”, the Mercedes team principal wrote to Horner. “But on the other hand, the sport is really going to miss you as one of the main protagonists.”
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‘PS: You need a haircut’
“Who am I going to fight now?” Wolff then wonders. “And who am I going to ‘hate with pleasure’ now, as you always put it so nicely? Wolff and Horner have together won fourteen of the last fifteen world championships. Not a bad statistic.” Horner also immediately reveals his answer to the Mercedes team principal. “I have enjoyed taking the fight to you all these years. So thank you for the rivalry, the competition, and the incentive. No one else even came close, as the statistics show. I wish you all the best for the future. PS: You need a haircut.”
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