Red Bull and Mercedes fought hard for the world title this year, and while the latter leads by 28 points in the design race, their drivers, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton reached the end of the season with the same score.
This season has not only caused already tense moments for the pilots, but certainly Wolf and Horner harassed each other several times in the media.
The two sports leaders appeared together at the press conference for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Friday, and And they shook hands with each other in a sporty way, wishing the other a lot of success.
“Good luck, may God bless you! They answered a question about what they would say to each other before the final of the tournament.
“It’s a tough competition,” Horner continued. “It is also intense between us. It will be intense next year and beyond. But we have two great teams.”
“We’re about 25 miles away in the UK and I think our commitment is massive. I can’t speak for Team Toto, but our team has been outstanding this year, throughout the pandemic, in the challenges, the triple rounds. So yeah, slowing them down a little bit isn’t going to help.”
“Who would have thought at the beginning of the season that we would have a chance to win this cup? An impressive journey has led us to get as many points as Lewis. It was a great championship. We won 10 races. The nine that Max scored are the same as in previous seasons. Since he’s been into the sport.”
“Over the past eight years, no one has been able to get close to Mercedes. Here we are in the last race and we have another chance. In the constructors’ championship we have to shoot from distance, but we have the same chances in the single points race. So the excitement is great.”
“It’s been an intense, sometimes frustrating season. We’ve crossed the line, pushed and pushed each other, and it’s kind of like a Squid game.”
“As a team, we are very proud of what we have achieved this year. We are proud of the way we raced. And we are especially proud of Max.”
Toto Wolff added, “There have already been difficult moments this season, but for sure Whoever ends up winning on Sunday deserves the championship title.
“Both teams have had their part in both luck and misfortune. As Christian said, the journey so far has been at times happy, rich, sometimes very frustrating. And the fact that we are standing here with the same score now is good not only for the spectators, but for us as well. We’ve come to the limit. New. They have done a great job this year, everything has to be put on Sunday and whoever wins deserves to win.”
Horner also spoke about the fact that while they fight each other in one of the world’s greatest sports, it is inevitable that they view each other as enemies.
“I think we are fighting for the biggest titles in the sport and the competition is very intense,” he explained. “We are different personalities, but we share the same strength and the same competitiveness.”
“I will protect my team, my rider, both. Yes, there is competition on and off the field and we have crossed the line. Toto did the same for him.”
“It would be very artificial if I sat here or sat here during the season and smiled at my biggest opponent. I can’t do that because it wouldn’t be right, it wouldn’t be honest. So of course the feelings erupt. It’s a competitive sport. This is formula 1.”
“I think it was the most honest, it would be totally fake for me to sit here and say how much we love each other and go on vacation after the weekend.”
Then Horner turned to Wolfe and said: “Because by the way, I’m not going on vacation with you after this weekend!”
Then the Mercedes boss took the word, “I don’t know how much fun it would be”…
“But I agree with Christian. I think we have a mutual respect for what the other team is doing. I defend the team, for the team’s interests, and sometimes that can be violent because it’s not just competitors who fight on the track.”
“It’s a struggle to benefit from the rules, and we obviously have some biases that stem from different perspectives and perceptions.”
“I can take it logically, but if things go against my team or the two Musketeers, I can get very emotional, and Christian has his own way of dealing with that too. Like I said, we are very different personalities.”
“But now this is a struggle for this trophy, one of the most important prizes in the sport. It’s the World Cup, so we can’t expect a lot of disagreements between captains and teams.”
