Christian Horner ‘played a character’ at Red Bull, claims Susie Wolff

Susie Wolff has suggested that Christian Horner “played a character very well” during his time running the Red Bull team and that the allegations surrounding him were “a real shame” for F1.

Horner was relieved of his duties as Red Bull F1 team principal back in July after 20 years and 14 world titles at the team he built from the bottom up.

He officially left last month, having received an £80m pay-off, and Laurent Mekies was installed as his replacement as both chief executive and team principal.

As part of his settlement, it is believed the 51-year-old can return to the sport next spring and Horner is keen on a role back in the paddock, although he would expect a team ownership-style position, not dissimilar to the type that Wolff’s husband Toto holds at Mercedes – where he owns a third of the team as well as being chief executive and team principal.

Horner was at the midst of a media storm in early 2024 when he was accused of inappropriate behaviour by a Red Bull colleague. He has always denied the accusations and has twice been cleared of the claims – firstly by an internal investigation conducted by a lawyer and then secondly by another lawyer who dismissed the complainant’s appeal.

And Susie Wolff – who is head of the F1 academy in addition to being married to the Mercedes F1 boss and Horner’s bitter rival – is convinced that scandal damaged the sport.

“Christian was supportive of F1 Academy, and for that I’ll always be grateful,” Wolff said in an interview with the Sunday Times. “It was a real shame for the sport — the whole drama that was created with the allegations.

“We were getting so much positive momentum with F1 Academy, and that all kicked off and suddenly everyone wanted to interview me about that.

“He was someone that played a character very well. But I do think that incident maybe wasn’t the best for the image of the sport and showed that we’ve still got work to do.”

Toto Wolff’s rivalry with Horner really came to a head during the 2021 season when Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were engaged in a bitter battle for the Drivers’ Championship title, which ended with Verstappen narrowly pipping the Brit after a hugely controversial end to the final race of the campaign, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

When Horner was let go by Red Bull this summer, the Mercedes chief was quick to reveal his true feelings, which were inevitably a mixed bag.

Wolff said: “What do I think [of Horner]? Well, that over the last 12-15 years, he has often behaved like an a**hole.

“He operates according to completely different values, but even the greatest enemy has a best friend.

“On the other hand, he was extremely successful in what he did. Now that he’s gone, at least for a while, a real personality has left the sport.

“He was controversial and divisive, but he was one of the main characters here. We can safely say that he was as significant as a great driver.

“Looking at it purely from an F1 perspective, I don’t think there are many old-style team boss dinosaurs left here. Maybe just me. Maybe Fred [Vasseur, Ferrari team principal] is a bit of a dinosaur too!”