Mercedes chief Toto Wolff expects Christian Horner to eventually return to the Formula One paddock but sees his former rival’s departure as a reminder that even the sport’s most prominent personalities are part of its orbit, not its center.
Horner’s shock exit as Red Bull team principal in July, after 20 years and eight drivers’ and six constructors’ championships, sent ripples through the F1 world, sparking speculation about a swift comeback.
Aston Martin boss Andy Cowell quipped at last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix that Horner had been reaching out to team owners across the paddock, though Wolff confirmed Mercedes had not been among them.
“It’s clear that when someone like that is gone, you’re thinking, he’s got to be back,” Wolff, a co-owner of the team, told Reuters at the Marina Bay circuit.
“But this world moves so fast, the hamster wheel keeps turning. My feeling is probably he’s going to be back, but where and how and when? I don’t know.”
Wolff’s running feuds with Horner as their drivers battled for world titles were one of the most compelling narratives of the Netflix series Drive to Survive.
Although Wolff said he did not miss the moments when their run-ins “escalated, rhetorically, verbally,” Horner’s departure has certainly left the sport without one of its biggest characters.
“Maybe the personality got too big, up for his own good within his team,” the Austrian pondered.
“I’m not saying that’s him, but I think from a human standpoint, you’ve got to be able to look yourself in the mirror in the evening and say, ‘Have I been a little bit of an idiot today?’
“And that self-reflection and introspection is super important to keep your feet on the ground at a time when you’re winning Formula One races and the cameras are pointing at you.
“I’ve seen many, many people fail in Formula One, and on the outside, because they felt they were the sun and not part of the solar system.
“We are an ecosystem here, all with our part in this ecosystem. And if you feel that you stand above your people and not with them, that is risky, long term.”
‘Stare into the abyss’
Asked how he keeps his own feet on the ground, Wolff credited his wife, Susie, the former race driver who now runs the all-female F1 Academy series, and his upbringing.
“I’ve seen drama, trauma, adversity, grief, all of this happening, and I always carry that with me,” said the 53-year-old, whose father died of brain cancer when Wolff was a boy.
“I never believe in the success. I always stare into the abyss. Things can happen, and I need to be careful, so I kind of never believe the success.”
Also highly important, Wolff said, is having people around him who are prepared to call him out.
“They speak up,” he added. “I think one of my weaknesses is certainly being very emotional on some occasions.
“But when that kind of spills over… they push back. And sometimes, if you’re the head of an organization, you need to be able to accept that, because it doesn’t feel nice if someone tells you you’re wrong.”
Wolff’s sense of humor is never far from the surface and emerges again when he is asked if Formula One will miss Horner.
“You know the famous western, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?” he laughed.
“It needs the various characters, and he certainly covered the niche. I’m obviously the good, (Ferrari’s) Fred (Vasseur) is obviously the ugly one, and so…”
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