"Disrespectful"

Toto Wolff angry: “Then the fun stops”

Toto (left) and Susie Wolff(Bild: APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Chris Graythen)

During the FIA investigation into Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff and his wife Susie Wolff almost a year ago, the Wolff family was able to count on the support of almost all team bosses - except RB team boss Christian Horner, as Wolff has now revealed. "That's where the fun ends," says Wolff.

In an interview with the Guardian, Wolff looks back on the difficult situation when serious allegations were made against him and his wife. An anonymous source claimed that Susie had passed on confidential information to her husband as managing director of the F1 Academy. Eight other Formula 1 team bosses backed Wolff. One did not: Christian Horner.

I can take a lot of shit. I'm used to that. But when your wife is dragged into a conflict that she has nothing to do with and her reputation is impeccable, the fun stops.

Toto Wolff

Horner had been the only team boss to behave "disrespectfully" when he initially refused to sign a document in support of the Wolff family. "I can take a lot of shit. I'm used to that. But when your wife is dragged into a conflict that she has nothing to do with and her reputation is impeccable, the fun stops," Wolff told the Guardian.

The FIA investigation was eventually closed quickly. Horner had only signed the document under pressure from the other team bosses. It would have been strange if Horner had been the only one not to sign, Wolff recalls: "In the second version, he tried to get the word 'official' into the statement. He wanted a note saying that nobody [of the team bosses] had officially complained to the FIA. The other teams said: 'Fine. We'll make our statement and you make your own.' In the end, he signed it."

"Trying to hurt me"
The sting is still deep for Wolff, he and Horner will probably no longer be best friends. "I don't think you can rely on what he says. I think a lot of it was out of disrespect for her achievements as a racing driver and as a contribution to change. It was also an attempt to hurt me by disrespecting my wife and belittling the painful path she has taken to achieve what she has achieved in and out of the car," said Wolff.