Christian Horner feels it is a case of “loves to hate me” with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, but he does not want “just flowers and pleasantries”.

Tensions between the respective team bosses of Red Bull and Mercedes stretch back to 2021, where the all-time classic F1 title battle featuring Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen spread as a rivalry running throughout the Red Bull and Mercedes camps.

Christian Horner and Toto Wolff have ‘love-hate relationship’

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Said rivalry spread to the top with Horner and Wolff regularly at each other’s throats, and while the situation calmed in the years since, the duo have never been far away from a fresh flare-up.

The most recent came at the end of F1 2024 following the war of words between Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell in Qatar/Abu Dhabi, Wolff calling Horner a “yapping little terrier” after Horner had branded Russell “hysterical”, Verstappen frustrated after what he saw as Russell “lying” and trying to get him a penalty.

Verstappen did get a one-place grid drop, promoting Russell to Qatar GP pole after he was adjudged to have been driving too slowly in qualifying, the spat spilling over into the Abu Dhabi season finale and further escalating.

And when speaking to the media, including PlanetF1.com, in Abu Dhabi, Horner was asked if the tension with Wolff is set to be there always.

“I really don’t know,” he replied.

“I mean, it needs to be about what you do on the track.

“I mean, there’s a sort of a love-hate relationship, where I think Toto loves to hate me. It’s one of those things.”

More on the Christian Horner and Toto Wolff story

👉 Christian Horner and Toto Wolff: A history of Formula 1’s odd couple

👉 Every word said in Jos Verstappen and Christian Horner’s bitter feud

That being said, Horner believes it would be “disingenuous to the competition that exists” in Formula 1 if it was nicey-nicey all the time.

“I think the most important thing at the end of day is respect,” Horner told talkSPORT. “And there has to be respect.

“I mean, Toto has done a great job with Mercedes in the time that he’s been there. But again, it has to be competitive. And he’ll have a go at me every now and again, and you give as good as you get.

“But that’s sport, and I think if it’s all just flowers and pleasantries, it’s disingenuous to the competition that exists there.

“And I think that, you know, we’re a race team, and we’re competitive. We don’t like losing, we want to win, and will respect others if they do a better job.”

Put to him that Red Bull are therefore bad losers, Horner clarified: “I wouldn’t say we’re bad losers, but you certainly don’t like it.

“If you like losing, then you’re in the wrong game.”

While Horner and Wolff both had racing careers in the junior categories, their paths split from there, with Horner retiring and going into team management with his Arden squad before becoming Red Bull Racing team principal, while Wolff set about bringing together his business portfolio, which included investing in the Williams team before Mercedes.

And Horner believes it is far from a new thing in Formula 1 to have these “different characters” as team bosses.

“We’re very different people,” said Horner. “I grew up within the industry, I’m an ex-racer turned manager/CEO. Toto came from a financial sector.

“So he perhaps has a different outlook, to just go about things in different ways, perhaps in the differences that Ron Dennis had with a Flavio Briatore or Frank Williams.

“You just get different personalities, different characters.”

Horner is F1’s longest-serving team principal having been at the helm of Red Bull since they joined the F1 grid in 2005, while Wolff has been in charge at Mercedes since 2013.

Read next: Flavio Briatore takes aim at ‘completely demotivated’ Ocon before Haas move