Christian Horner has hit back at “dramatic” Toto Wolff after the Mercedes F1 team principal described him as a “yapping little terrier”, saying he would “rather be a terrier than a wolf”.

In another colourful press conference, Horner laughed off the insult, saying he was a big fan of the breed and has owned four of them in total, including two West Highland terriers called Bernie and Flavio.

The build-up to this weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has so far been dominated by the toxic fallout from last weekend’s race in Qatar, where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was incensed by the alleged behaviour of Mercedes rival George Russell in the stewards’ room. Verstappen felt Russell hammed it up in front of the stewards in order to earn him a grid penalty, accusing the Englishman of being a “liar” and a “backstabber”.

Russell responded by describing Verstappen as a “bully”, and even alleged the Dutchman threatened to “put his f------ head in the wall” after leaving the stewards’ room in Doha, a charge the Red Bull driver denies.

On Thursday, the row spilt over to their respective team principals, with Wolff furious at Horner for describing Russell as “hysterical” in Qatar.

“His forte for sure is not intellectual psychoanalysis, but that’s quite a word,” Wolff said. “Why does he feel entitled to comment about my driver? Yapping little terrier. Always something to say.”

Horner pointed out that it was “pantomime season” back in the UK, adding he did not take it personally.

He said: “I love terriers. I’ve had four of them. A couple of Airedales, the king of the terriers. And a couple of West Highland terriers called Bernie and Flavio. The thing about terriers is they’re tremendously loyal. I mean, Bernie was aggressive, he’d go for anybody. Flavio was a bit more chilled, he probably ate a bit too much.

“[But] to be called a terrier, is that such a bad thing? They’re not afraid to have a go at the bigger dogs. I’d rather be a terrier than a wolf, maybe.”

That last quip – clearly rehearsed – produced groans in the conference room, but Horner said it was all good fun and he did not take any of it seriously.

‘Toto likes to talk’

Asked about Wolff’s line that he was not noted for his “intellectual psychoanalysis” and whether the Austrian’s outburst had “reopened old wounds” given their well-publicised feud during 2021 in particular, he replied: “Not really. Toto’s quite dramatic as we all know. I wasn’t talking about psychology, I was talking about the roasting [Russell] gave his team when they stuck on a set of hards when he asked for mediums [in Qatar]. I’d get fined if I repeat the language [Russell] used.

“Toto likes to talk. But we just want to finish on a high. Hopefully we can have a well earned break after this race.”

Horner added that he had a “love-hate” relationship with the Mercedes team principal.

“Toto loves to hate me. But I would assume he’s got more on his plate. It’s Lewis’ last race for the team, I think they should be celebrating that,” he said.

The Red Bull team principal finished by saying he believed his driver’s version of events, calling him a “straight-shooter”.

“Max does nothing but tell the truth so I believe 100 per cent what he told me to be accurate. I also spoke to others in the stewards’ room who were quite surprised at the approach that was taken [by Russell],” he added.

“Regarding Toto’s other comments, I’m not going to rise to the bait. We’ve won 122 races and 14 world championships. I think we’re doing all right.”