Christian Horner exclusive: Lewis Hamilton vs Max Verstappen, Toto Wolff panto war and 'biased' Damon Hill

It is almost 17 years since a fresh-faced Christian Horner was appointed team principal of Red Bull Racing, back in January 2005. At 31, he was, famously, the youngest team principal to be working in Formula 1 at that time. He is now its longest-serving. But as we sit down in his office at Red Bull’s factory in Milton Keynes to look ahead to the final double-header of what has been the most thrilling, most unpredictable and hardest-fought season in recent memory, Horner is keen to stress that he remains as up for the fight as ever. Quite literally. He laughs when asked who would win a scrap between himself and his nemesis at Mercedes, Toto Wolff, one year his senior at 49. “Oh, I’d take him any day of the week,” he replies. “Toto’s a big wuss underneath it all.”

At this rate it might just happen. While some - Horner’s own driver Max Verstappen included - have accused Netflix of “faking” rivalries to boost interest in their smash hit Drive to Survive series, there is no doubt the beef between Wolff and Horner is real.

Horner does not deny it, admitting this would be the most satisfying title in Red Bull’s history if they could pull it off - better than any of the four double world championships won with Sebastian Vettel a decade or so ago. “I think this would top everything just because of the intensity of it,” he says. “Because of the quality of our opposition. Remember, 60 per cent of Mercedes’ car is carryover from last year. And last year was the most dominant car they’ve ever had. So the way this team has reacted has been phenomenal.

“It’s been very different,” he adds of the comparison with Red Bull’s glory years between 2010 and 2013. “When we were fighting Ferrari or McLaren… Stefano [Domenicali] ran Ferrari back then and there was always a handshake, you know, after the race. It was different. This one has felt very political off track. The positioning, the posturing, the politicking of the governing body, of the drivers and teams.”

Horner pauses. “Maybe we've been a bit naive, because for us, it's been all about what's going on on the track. And then you find, when you are under attack you have to defend.”

Horner is clearly implying that Mercedes have fought ‘dirty’, deploying resources away from the track to stymie, to confuse, to bewilder their rivals. His own trip to the stewards after the race in Qatar, to apologise for comments he made about a “rogue” marshal who waved a yellow flag in qualifying - which Verstappen missed and for which the Dutchman subsequently copped a five-place grid penalty - was, he argues, a case in point. Red Bull suspect the stewards only became aware of Horner’s comment after it was brought to their attention by their rivals.

“We're a racing team,” Horner says. “We don't have huge departments of press and manipulators in the background. So I’m fending off whatever is incoming. Whereas some teams operate in a very different manner. They’ll spend their time, you know, manipulating a message.

“The truth is [what he said] wasn’t a criticism of the marshal. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances [what happened in qualifying]. And I don't believe it was the intention of the race director for that to happen, but he didn't have control of his marshals. I think perhaps my comments were used to become pointed at a marshal which wasn’t the intention. But you know, these things get spun around. They get turned and they get twisted.

“Incidentally,” he adds. “Where is the consistency? The previous weekend, [Mercedes] basically told the race director to go f--- himself. My comments felt insignificant by comparison.”

'Max drives like Tyson Fury fights'

As much as it uses up emotional energy, Horner says he has no regrets about the way he has acted or spoken up this season. He says he will always fight to defend his team and drivers if he feels they are under attack. Asked about a couple of testy exchanges with Damon Hill on Sky Sports, Horner is unapologetic, even suggesting there is some inherent bias in the broadcasters’ coverage.

“We’ve got a British driver going for a record-breaking world championship. And Damon obviously has never been a fan of Max… If you talk to the Dutch then Max can walk on water. That’s just the way things are reported. And, you know, sometimes impartiality does get lost.”

Asked why Hill might not be a fan of the Dutchman, Horner demurs. “That’s something you’d have to ask Damon. But he’s not a big fan of Max from what I can see. It’s something that’s been noticeable over the last couple of years. But everybody has a right to an opinion. You know, it's a free world. And, as I said to Damon, I’m the type of person that, if I don't agree with your opinion, I'm not just going to roll over. If I think somebody is being an a---, I'll tell them I think they’re being an a---.”

Horner says Verstappen, for his part, lets most of the controversy wash over him. “Lewis continually drops his subtle little digs or provocations. But I think the great thing about Max is he doesn’t give a f---,” he says. “He is who he is. He drives a car fast. And then he wants to go home and play on his Playstation. It's as simple as that.”

Horner adds, though, that anyone who thinks the Dutch driver will have lost heart with Mercedes and Hamilton chasing a hat-trick of wins in Saudi Arabia had better think again, backing Verstappen to come out of the traps quickest on what is a brand new circuit in Jeddah this weekend.

“Max drives like Tyson Fury fights,” he says. “He’s got that same heart. You just know he's going to give it everything and if you knock him down, he's going to get back up. He's got that burning desire; that all-out commitment. I would put money on Max’s first flying lap in Saudi Arabia being the fastest of any driver.”

Horner is adamant he wants this epic title battle to be decided on the track, rather than in the courts, but you wouldn’t rule anything out.

The build-up to Qatar was dominated by Mercedes’ attempts to have Verstappen penalised for dangerous driving at Interlagos, where he nearly took Hamilton out at one stage as the Briton attempted to pass him. Red Bull, meanwhile, were threatening to protest Mercedes’ rear wing, claiming their speeds in Brazil were “not normal” and alleging some sort of illegal moveable part. It all came to a head in a wonderfully tense press conference in which Wolff and Horner sat side by side, simmering under their face masks, the sparks positively crackling between them.

In the end, Red Bull managed to get the FIA to introduce new, more stringent load tests ahead of qualifying in Doha and while it didn’t stop Hamilton winning the race, cutting the gap to Verstappen to just eight points in the process, Horner is convinced the new test has made a difference.

“For the first time since prior to the British Grand Prix [in July] we saw straightline speeds in Qatar pretty much identical [to Mercedes], throughout the speed range,” he says, adding that footage which has since emerged on social media backs up Red Bull’s claims that Mercedes’ rear wing was flexing illegally under load.

It raises a question, surely, that if Red Bull were so sure Mercedes were cheating, why didn’t they protest them and have them punished? They could have wrapped up the title by now. Horner says what they did have was probably not strong enough to sway the stewards. “As we've seen recently, in the wake of both Silverstone and Brazil, it would have to have been ‘significant’ new evidence for the FIA to re-look at it,” he says. “But what we've seen going around on social media does seem to tie in with our theory. And if it was working in the manner we believe it was, it would be a clear breach of the regs.

“It’s clever,” he adds. “But it would be a clear breach of the regs after the tidy-up of the rear wing regs that came earlier in the year.”

Horner sighs. He does not deny the season has taken a toll, and there has been trauma away from Formula 1 as well. Horner’s wife Geri Halliwell had to fly back from Qatar after her brother Max collapsed suddenly in the days leading up to the race. He was taken to intensive care but sadly died. “Thankfully she got there in time,” he says. “Before they had to make the horrible decision.” These are the human stories we don’t see on Netflix.

It also adds some perspective to the sport, and Horner’s relations with Wolff. So, when this season is all over, will they shake hands and have a beer?

“Yeah, after he’s finished his panto,” Horner smiles, referring again to Wolff’s comments last month when Austrian described Horner as the “protagonist in a pantomime”, a jibe that prompted Horner to say that Wolff would make a great Widow Twanky. “No seriously, whatever the outcome, for sure there’ll be a handshake at the end of it… And then no doubt he'll try and kick me in the b------- before it all starts again.”