Christian Horner has dismissed Toto Wolff’s “joke” verdict of engine concerns being put on the F1 Commission agenda at the last minute, saying they are long-standing and not a recent complaint.

The topic of engines has been a sore point of late with the FIA initiating a look at V10s, only for senior figures to vote it down at a special meeting held in Bahrain. That was not the end of it though with the topic on the agenda at last week’s meeting of the F1 Commission, the timing of which Wolff described as a “joke.”

Christian Horner responds to Toto Wolff’s ‘joke’ verdict

The Mercedes boss’ complaint was with what he saw as the last-minute addition of the topic, saying it was “hilarious as reading some of the comments that I see on Twitter on American politics.”

“I really want to protect ourselves and make no comment, but it’s a joke,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com, at the most recent race in Saudi Arabia. “Like a week ago, there’s an engine meeting and then things like this end up on the agenda again.”

Horner though has disputed that claim and said the topic has long been part of discussions by F1 higher-ups.

“They [Mercedes] seem very confident in the job that they’ve done for next year,” Horner, whose Red Bull Powertrains division will create their first engine without the help of Honda next year, said. “I think that this is something that we asked to be looked at two years ago, and it’s not something that we pushed to be on the agenda this week at all.”

Horner went on to state that the FIA’s main concern is over excessive lift and coast given the reliance on battery power. The Red Bull boss said a situation like that would be detrimental to the fans watching on.

“The FIA have gone away and done their research, and I think what they want to desperately avoid is a lot of lifting and coasting in the grand prix itself, which will be not particularly good for the sport and hugely frustrating for the drivers.

“So it’s not something that we’ve lobbied for or asked for and if they’re doing it in the interest of the sport, then you’ve got to support it.

“The problem is, the faster cars go through the corner, the bigger the issue will be and the designers will always design cars that go quicker through the corners. The FIA think they will so then that only compounds your problem.

“I actually think what they’ve proposed – that you have a push to pass element in the race to deploy – actually looks pretty sensible, but it’s something that obviously we should have ideally looked at two years ago but it’s still 10 months before we’re racing. So I don’t see it as a major issue.”

More on the engine debate within F1

F1 2026 power unit regulation tweaks discussed at Commission meeting

F1 switch to V10 engines verdict reached following crunch meeting in Bahrain

The F1 Commission met in Geneva last week where it was decided that the topic of power units would be “discussed in more detail among the specialists in the appropriate advisory committees.”

“The F1 Commission discussed in principle refinements to the energy management strategy for 2026,” an FIA spokesperson said. “As well as measures to address financial issues that can be faced by Power Unit Manufacturers that experience either low performance or significant reliability issues in 2026. All of these topics will be discussed in more detail among the specialists in the appropriate advisory committees.

“The FIA updated the F1 Commission members about the constructive meeting held recently in Bahrain between the FIA, FOM and the Power Unit Manufacturers.”

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