Toto Wolff takes ‘entitlement’ jibe at Christian Horner over Max Verstappen’s 2021 Abu Dhabi win

Toto Wolff believed that 'entitled' Christian Horner did not comment on Max Verstappen's 2021 title win against Lewis Hamilton.

Toto Wolff takes ‘entitlement’ jibe at Christian Horner over Max Verstappen’s 2021 Abu Dhabi win

Toto Wolff, Max Verstappen and Christian Horner (via IMAGO)

Max Verstappen won the 2021 World Drivers’ Championship against Lewis Hamilton in a highly controversial fashion. Both the drivers moved on from the issues since then which isn’t the case for Toto Wolff. The Mercedes team boss still resents the issues back in 2021 as he took a jibe at Christian Horner’s ‘entitlement’ back then.

Toto Wolff had recently claimed that he hadn’t moved on from the ‘sporting tragedy’ of the 2021 season. Max Verstappen won the championship back then and Christian Horner didn’t comment much on the controversial end to the race. Wolff completely overlooked Horner’s previous comments of Lewis Hamilton handling the issues of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP ‘graciously’.

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Speaking upon the reaction from Horner back then, Wolff reckoned that the team never acknowledged the issues Mercedes suffered. The Red Bull boss never commented that both drivers deserved the championship win as the odds went against Brackley back then. The Mercedes boss believed that the lack of comments from the 50-year-old was due to his ‘entitlement’.

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I felt that the other side – and that’s not Max – there was not one sentence saying: ‘That was a difficult day for Mercedes, we acknowledge it, they’re both deserving champions and today it went against Mercedes.’ There was not one word from Christian or the other team [members] in acknowledging that. It was entitlement.

Toto Wolff said on the Armchair Expert podcast.

Toto Wolff finds middle ground with ‘both drivers should have trophy’ remark

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were extremely close to one another in the championship standings and both were deserving of the win. Toto Wolff resonated with this thought and claimed that both drivers should have been the world champions and won the trophy. The Austrian highlighted that Verstappen was stronger in the first half with Hamilton dominating the latter half.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, 2021 Abu Dhabi GP (Via IMAGO)
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, 2021 Abu Dhabi GP (Via IMAGO)

Both drivers were deserving Champions because of the ups and downs of the season. Probably both should have been World Champions. Max was the stronger driver in the first half, Lewis was stronger in the second half. It was the same with the cars, both of them should have had the trophy.

Toto Wolff noted

Hamilton hadn’t commented harshly against Verstappen and his capabilities back then despite facing a disappointing situation. Both drivers reconciled with one another and did not showcase any strain in their relationship.

Hence, the two will prepare to compete with one another in the 2025 season as the Briton receives a fresh competing opportunity with Ferrari.