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Wolff is venomous against Horner: “Can hardly wait”

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has clearly contradicted his opponent Christian Horner. The Briton claimed that Red Bull had poached over 200 employees from Mercedes. In fact, it was only a tenth, according to Wolff. Meanwhile, the Austrian is already looking forward to 2026: "I can hardly wait."

"We've pretty much been the benchmark since 2014, or perhaps the benchmark with a different engine. That hasn't changed. I can hardly wait for 2026 to see the different performance levels of the drive units," says Wolff, brimming with confidence. Words that are also directed at Red Bull team boss Horner.

Because the Briton recently caused an uproar with a statement. "I don't know how many people we or Racing Bulls have hired from McLaren this year. At Mercedes, we took 220 people from HPP to Red Bull Powertrains," Horner said recently. This was his reaction to the criticism from Mercedes and McLaren, who described the departure of Adrian Newey as a weakening.

Wrong arithmetic games?
"So when we talk about the loss of people like Newey, I would be more worried about the 220 than one or two CVs," the Red Bull team boss teased. Statements that Wolff now clearly denies, as "Motorsport-Total" reports. "You have to do the maths - 19 engineers," the Austrian clarified, denying the figures presented by Horner: "Whatever these figures are, there are natural fluctuations that come and go, which is completely normal."

At the same time, Wolff emphasized how good the Mercedes engine department is. "There is not a millimetre that I would wish to be different in terms of the organization and the people who work there and with whom I am lucky enough to work," enthuses the 52-year-old. The team boss is therefore looking forward to the rule changes for 2026, which will give more weight to the hybrid component of the drive unit.