Credits: IMAGO / Eibner

Toto Wolff resumed his beef with Christian Horner on a different plane after the bombshell news of Adrian Newey’s exit. The Mercedes boss echoed Zak Brown’s notion of resumes flying around from Red Bull personnel. On this, Horner hit back at Wolff, claiming that they have poached about 220 people from Mercedes’ High-Performance Powertrains division at Brixworth.

Now, the Austrian boss has replied to counter Horner’s claim that the number of engineers poached by Red Bull is only 19. According to SoyMotor, Wolff stated, “You have to work on the mathematics. Whatever those numbers are, there are natural fluctuations that come and go, which is completely normal.”

Horner had also commented on how the hiring of engineers keeps happening as personnel move between teams. He cited the example of McLaren, who have been on a recruitment spree across their technical structure from top to bottom.

However, for Red Bull, this hiring of engineers for their powertrains division is crucial from the 2026 regulations standpoint. The RBPT division is working on the Austrian team’s first indigenous power unit for the brand-new engine regulations set to come in 2026.

Thus, poaching engineers from a veteran engine manufacturer like Mercedes will only help their cause. While they have Ford’s help and backing, Red Bull have a steep mountain to climb with their 2026 engine development.

So, it is understandable for Horner to make bold claims as a part of his mind games with their arch-rivals. However, there has been an easing of hostilities at the 2024 Imola GP among the team principals.

Toto Wolff and Christian Horner sit close at F1 CEO’s ‘tense’ and ‘ fun’ dinner

F1 boss Stefano Domenicali called for an unusual meeting of all the team principals at the Imola GP. Domenicali, hailing from the Emilia Romagna region itself, wanted to take all bosses to one of his preferred restaurants, as per GP Fans.

Now, at this dinner, Toto Wolff had to sit just one seat away from his Red Bull counterpart and arch nemesis, Christian Horner. Besides Wolff was his long-term friend and now rival boss Frederic Vasseur. Overall, it was a ‘fun’ night as per Williams’ boss James Vowles.

Even Wolff addressed the same but cited how it felt a bit “tense” initially. He stated, “I wasn’t planning to talk to everyone but at the end, we were talking to each other and the knives were back in the pocket.”

It is natural for Wolff or Horner or any other boss to feel awkward at such an unusual social get-together of rival bosses. Usually, all of them are passing comments against each other’s teams and playing mind games to beat each other on the racetrack.