Christian Horner, Toto Wolff and their feud

The helicopter has just hovered over his country estate. Standing on the helicopter’s skids, the wife, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, quickly asks for a selfie. Come on now, music legend Paul McCartney and the famous Glastonbury Festival await.

A life like in the movies. Actor and director in one is Christian Edward Johnston Horner. The 48-year-old Briton’s main job is Formula 1 Team Principal at Red Bull Racing – and he has a short journey from the county of Oxfordshire to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend. No other racing team manager polarizes like him, and no other seems to take such a thieving pleasure in constantly stirring up trouble.

Intrigue games have always belonged to the premier class of motorsport, in a billion dollar business this is not surprising. At the last race in Montreal, the ten bosses of the racing team attacked each other. It was superficially about the technology, but in reality it was of course about the money. And it was about Netflix.

The streaming service’s “Drive to survive” documentary series has triggered a boom in Formula 1, especially among young people and women. Cameras and microphones were therefore even allowed to be present at the team bosses’ meeting, which is otherwise kept so strictly secret. At the weekend in Canada, they mainly followed Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, who then complained about how sneaky and pathetic his colleagues were.

The two dominators Horner and Wolff are deadly enemies of each other

You have to know that Horner and the Austrian have not only been enemies of each other since the duel between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton last year that got out of joint. For twelve years, all titles have only gone to the two and their teams, still with the advantage of Wolff. Apparently innocently, Horner condemned Wolff’s TV appearance as “theatrical”. And added smugly: “Maybe he would like to get a role in the film that Lewis Hamilton is producing.”

Horner has also expressed himself more drastically about his opponent, he is not one of those who kisses the powerful Mercedes man’s butt. Using Formula 1 as a stage for a smear comedy seems to suit his taste. When Mercedes drivers in particular complained about bouncing racing cars, Horner believed that he was acting to create public pressure for a rule change. “I wouldn’t do it any differently in this situation,” he admits.

It is fitting that the drinks company’s racing team is known as the “House of Cars” based on the political thriller “House of Cards”. Accordingly, former Red Bull racing drivers describe the climate in Milton Keynes as cool to cold, but Horner and his grumpy Austrian partner Helmut Marko must be doing something right.

At the age of 31 he was the youngest team boss in Formula 1 at the time

Horner became the youngest team boss in Formula 1 at Red Bull Racing in 2005 at the age of 31, Niki Lauda had previously failed in the task. As a recommendation, he had a rather mediocre racing career and management experience in Formula 3000. In the junior class it’s always about financial survival, that’s where you learn all the tricks and feints.

With the billions invested by Dietrich Mateschitz behind him and the brilliant designer Adrian Newey, Horner took off, after five years he celebrated his first title with the German Red Bull discovery Sebastian Vettel behind the wheel.

Champions are seldom popular among rivals, but Christian Horner celebrates the role of the enemy to the full. No wonder former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone had envisaged him as the ideal successor to take over the entire Formula 1 business. Horner declined, but then became best man at Ecclestone’s third wedding. The 91-year-old foster father and his pupil have one thing in common: neither of them avoids controversy.

Christian Horner admits that he consciously teases his competitor Toto Wolff and that he is easy to provoke. These often include verbal needlepoints and poison darts. The Briton sees himself as the front man, enthroned at the command post, his tapping feet during the race are a popular motif for cameras. Colleague Wolff, on the other hand, is sitting in the garage only concerned with his image, to which Wolff counters that Horner is a gossip and, optionally, a pantomime.

Underdog against corporate men, that’s the storytelling behind it – which is ultimately profitable for everyone involved.

In truth, however, Red Bull is likely to put far more money into the racing business than the competition, which condemns the team boss to success. In his own words, he admits that the need to win is a drug on which he and his people are addicted.

Horner pulls off the big coup in the 2021 World Cup final

He was correspondingly desperate last December in the finale in Abu Dhabi when Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was only a few laps away from his eighth world title. During the interruption after an accident, he put so much pressure on race director Michael Masi in a duel that he interpreted the rules differently than usual. So Verstappen still became world champion, and the Australian official lost his job.

Horner, on the other hand, was celebrated for his cleverness and as someone who could break the Mercedes dominance. He is currently looking to close ranks with Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto, although he is the direct opponent in the title race. But when it comes to keeping Mercedes in check, every means is right.

Male friendships and male enmity on the big Formula 1 stage – that remains a changing role-playing game.