Toto Wolff is lacking that enemy figure in the world of Formula 1, according to former Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

The Brit became accustomed to McLaren CEO Zak Brown also hurling the verbal combat his way during the latter years of his tenure. But, Horner points out that Brown can’t “ruffle feathers” with Wolff due to McLaren’s use of the Mercedes power unit.

Toto Wolff has it ‘quite easy’ as Christian Horner says rivalry needed

Horner was axed as Red Bull team boss, after two decades in charge, following the 2025 British Grand Prix.

He has expressed a willingness to return to the sport, but only for the right project which would also provide team ownership.

Earlier this year, Wolff told the Press Association that Formula 1 is “missing personalities” in Horner’s absence, but also suggested that the 52-year-old had “broken quite a lot of glass, and these things have repercussions.”

Horner, in a new interview with The Guardian, was presented with that Wolff comment.

“He also said this [Red Bull] engine was going to be completely sh*t and a disaster,” Horner clapped back.

Max Verstappen claimed the first Red Bull Powertrains project’s first victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. He followed that with the Sprint and Grand Prix victory double in Singapore.

“Toto’s got it quite easy at the moment. Zak Brown is compromised because he’s using Toto’s engine so he can’t ruffle feathers.

“All sport needs rivalry, whether it’s [Sir Alex] Ferguson and [Arsene] Wenger, [Jose] Mourinho and [Pep] Guardiola. It percolates and polarises.

“I used that to galvanise good people to take on Mercedes.”

The rivalry between Wolff and Horner hits its peak during the iconic F1 2021 season, as the fierce battle between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton spilled over into the Red Bull and Mercedes garages.

“Toto is a formidable competitor and Mercedes is a massive team, and of course the success that they’ve enjoyed and had, that’s what made ’21 even more important to us,” Horner told Autosport/Motorsport.com.

“He’s emotional. He’s competitive. He’s driven. We enjoyed a rivalry. I have huge respect for what he’s done and achieved.”

However, Horner reemphasised that “you can’t all just be best friends all of the time. It’s not true to the reality.”

The Wolff versus Horner narrative was a prominent one running through the hit Netflix F1 docuseries Drive to Survive.

Taking the fans for a fly-on-the-wall look at the sport, beyond what the TV cameras see, Horner was asked to what extent people in the sport had been playing up to the cameras.

Various F1 personalities over the years have challenged the series’ authentic portrayal of events. Verstappen at one stage boycotted the show.

“I think that when the cameras first turned up, it was very authentic,” said Horner. “Then you could feel, as the seasons went on that there was considerably more male grooming going on.

“It became a little more theatre, shall we say.

“But, I felt authentic to myself.

“Of course, these guys are making a TV show, so they take hours and hours and hours of footage, and of course it’s all about how you edit something. You can either make somebody look like the villain or the hero.

“That show has been incredibly successful because it suddenly lifted the lid on some of the rivalries, the personalities, the drivers’ personalities, some of the characters.”

He added: “It’s brought a whole new fanbase into the sport, which has been fantastic.”

Horner recently played down the rumours of a return to the sport with Ferrari.