"Would be embarrassing for Mercedes": Horner's last dig at favorite opponent

(Motorsport-Total.com) - With Christian Horner's dismissal this week, an era ended at Red Bull. The Briton was team boss for almost 20 years – and in this role, especially in his final years, he repeatedly had a favorite opponent: Toto Wolff and Mercedes .

The feud culminated in the heated 2021 World Championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen . But even afterward, Horner and Wolff repeatedly clashed, sometimes behind the scenes and documented by Netflix cameras in the paddock .

A few days before his dismissal, Horner took one last swipe at Mercedes as Red Bull team boss. This time, the topic was the 2026 Formula 1 engines. Red Bull will be competing with its own power units for the first time next year.

"The challenge is enormous. But we have an extremely capable team. We have invested significantly. We have a great culture within the team," Horner said at the team principal's press conference at Silverstone a week ago.

However, because it is Red Bull's first Formula 1 engine, they should not expect to be ahead of an established manufacturer like Mercedes in the first year, because: "That would be embarrassing for Mercedes if it were us, or for any other manufacturer," said Horner.

Horner: Engine program "long-term" right for Red Bull

A final jab at Mercedes, an attempt to shift all the pressure for the coming season onto the other manufacturers. Because what Horner is saying is: If Mercedes finishes ahead of Red Bull in 2026, it won't be a special achievement, because everyone expects it anyway.

If Red Bull were to be on par, it wouldn't reflect well on the established manufacturer Mercedes, which has been building Formula 1 engines for several decades. According to Horner's logic, Mercedes can only lose—and Red Bull can only win.

The then Red Bull team boss further commented on their own engine program: "The great thing about it is that everything is under one roof. Chassis engineers sit next to engine engineers. This should not be underestimated when it comes to packaging."

"Having the opportunity for these groups to communicate directly with each other and chat over a cup of coffee in the same facility is invaluable and will pay off," Horner says.

Therefore, Red Bull will be "competitive" in 2026, Horner announced, although he also emphasized that the company's own engine program may not pay off in the first or second year, "but in the long term, it is 100 percent the right decision for Red Bull," Horner said.

One week after these statements, he himself is no longer part of the project.