Having Burned His Hands in the Lewis Hamilton-Nico Rosberg Tussle, Toto Wolff Offers a Word of Advice to Christian Horner for the Red Bull Civil War

Many feel the Mercedes era of dominance was one of the most boring in the history of F1. That is because of the sheer dominant cars the team produced for its drivers who were each other’s only competition. However, people forget that the era also gave birth to one of the fiercest teammate rivalries this sport has witnessed. Toto Wolff knows how difficult it was for him to manage Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg back then. The Austrian manager has now surprisingly offered a piece of sage advice to his rival Christian Horner, who is going through a similar situation.

The relationship between Hamilton and Rosberg got off to a cordial start when the Briton joined the team in 2013. That was when Mercedes was only beginning to take shape. 2014 marked the start of the hybrid engine era and it was like the Silver Arrows hit the jackpot. Once the team started producing championship-worthy cars, the duo battled hard against each other on the track, often running into each other. In 2016, the situation got worse and Toto had to take matters into his own hands.

Toto Wolff tells Christian Horner how to avoid a Lewis Hamilton-Nico Rosberg-like situation at Red Bull

Horner finds himself in a similar position right now as Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are each other’s only competition. The Red Bull pairing has shared all the race wins in the season until now with Verstappen at 3 and Perez at 2. Horner has time and again reiterated that they are both free to race against each other. That means that you can never rule out a collision between them on the track.

As per RacingNews365, Wolff recently said, “I can tell you from my past that it is a super complicated job for Christian and for the team, because both drivers will obviously always try to feel that they are treated equally and fairly while at the same time wanting to have an advantage.”

“Going back I think there are things I would have done differently, especially in 2016, about having the right balance between accepting that the two drivers are fighting for the championship and that it is a fight within the same garage and they are part of a larger structure. It is not always easy because they are competitive animals.”

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Just like Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, things between Verstappen and Perez were calmer in their first year together. The Mexican driver gladly played second fiddle to his teammate but the infamous incident in Brazil changed that.

Helmut Marko gives Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez a free hand to race against each other

It’s not like the Red Bull management does not know a thing or two about teammate rivalries. The Multi-21 incident between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel is still fresh in fans’ memory. So is the memory from the 2018 Azerbaijan GP when Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo crashed into each other. Despite that, Marko has given his current drivers the freedom to battle it out on the track.

In a recent interview with ORF, he said, “Worried about a repeat of the Vettel-Webber and Verstappen-Ricciardo incidents? Not at all, for now, everything is going well and both were going to the limit. At least Max and Checo can drive freely, as they have done so far. They are two sensible drivers and intelligent enough not to do stupid things in the racetrack.”

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Until now, Perez and Verstappen have avoided running into each other. However, we’ve had just 5 races in a season of 23 races. Do you think things will spice up between the two if the Red Bull management does not intervene?