F1 | Red Bull, Horner pinches Mercedes: "With Ferrari the competition was between gentlemen"

2021 was, and will be remembered, as a heated season where Mercedes and Red Bull battled both on and off the track. What took center stage, in addition to the rivalry between Brackley-Milton Keynes and Hamilton-Verstappen, was also the back and forth that characterized the relationship between the two TPs: Toto Wolff and Chris Horner.

Discussing the dialectical diatribes that animated the World Championship, the Red Bull team principal believes that the competition with the Austrian rival has gone much further than that which had characterized the duel with Ferrari.

"When we fought with Sebastian Vettel against Fernando Alonso for the world championship, Stefano Domenicali was the team principal of Ferrari. The competition back then was at a different level, let me put it gentlemen – declared Horner, interviewed by Formule1.nl – This year has been intense both on and off the track. I think Toto plays him differently, he's a different kind of animal".

In the new season, characterized by the new regulations, Red Bull will have to defend the world champion title won by Max Verstappen in Abu Dhabi. Speaking about the next championship Horner said: “All the teams are pretty sure they will have a great car. We'll find out in Bahrain. But we have a great team, there is no reason to believe that we won't have a competitive car. I have full confidence. But the best teams will still be on attack, the worst on defense. There will be a difference, as always. This will not change with new cars".