The Formula 1 season finale is taking place this weekend in Abu Dhabi, and despite several nail-biting races and multiple race winners, the optics surrounding the racing series are the same now as they were in January. Drama, drama, and more drama.
Before I dive into who threatened who and which team principal called another a “yapping terrier,” let’s turn the calendar back to last January, just in case you’ve forgotten how long a season it’s been.
Steiner, Andretti, Horner, and Hamilton Walk Into a Bar
Most of us hadn’t even gotten used to writing out 2024 (instead of 2023) when news broke that Haas F1 was releasing Guenther Steiner. This led to some drama over sponsors likely abandoning the team, and more drama over lawsuits and unpaid fees, etc.
A few days after the Steiner news, we were served a plate of BS in the way of F1 rejecting Andretti Global’s application to join the sport, despite the FIA giving the Americans the all-clear. This effectively kickstarted a telenovela-style drama that is just now seeing some resolution.
One day after the Andretti news, another bombshell. Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton announced that he’d be leaving Mercedes at the end of the year and race for Ferrari in 2026. This triggered a tsunami of chaos that engulfed the F1 paddock and resulted in Carlos Sainz becoming unemployed—all while Toto Wolff cried that he was blindsided by the decision.
Just four days after that nugget, the first official report of inappropriate behavior involving Red Bull boss Christian Horner and his former assistant hit the wire. This awful situation quickly permeated all F1 coverage, not just that week but for the first two or three races of the season. It even led to fights between Jos Verstappen and Horner, and some may say that it ruptured the relationship between the F1 boss and Adrian Newey.
A Four-Time Champ and a Really Nice Boy Get Into It
Fast forward 10 months and it’s now the end of the 2024 season. Even before the lights went out for the Qatar Grand Prix a week ago, there was a healthy dose of high school drama, and it’s now traveled to Abu Dhabi where it’s actually intensified.
It all started because of an incident during Q3 in Qatar when the FIA stewards ruled that Max Verstappen blocked George Russell and deserved a one-place penalty for the race start. Before that was handed down, however, both drivers were summoned by the officials, where both pleaded their cases. Verstappen felt like Russell was “lying” and did everything in his power to smear him and get him penalized so he could take pole.
Following the meeting, Verstappen quickly told the media that he had lost respect for Russell, adding that he had never seen anyone “work harder to screw someone” over with the officials. To that, Russell said that Verstappen was a bully and everyone’s always backed down to him. He even mentioned that had Verstappen lost the 2021 title the way Lewis Hamilton did, former FIA race director Michael Masi would be “fearing for his life.”
Verstappen followed by saying that Russell can “fuck off” and added that “he always acts decent for the camera but when you talk to him personally he is a different person.” Russell fired back and alleged that Verstappen actually threatened him following the Qatar penalty, and went as far as saying that he’d “purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and ‘put me on my fucking head in the wall.'”
As we already know, Verstappen went on to win that race relatively easily while the rest of the field was in one way or another affected by a runaway side mirror that fell off Alex Albon’s Williams.
A Yapping Terrier vs. a Wolf
Being an F1 team principal is a lot like being an overprotective dad and a superstar CEO at the same time. You ultimately want and need to do what’s best for your company (team), but you’re a superstar and you have an ego to flaunt. Oh, and if someone comes after your beloved child, there will be hell to pay.
Horner often likes to stoke the fire of whatever scandal is happening in the paddock, and this was no exception. He told the media that Verstappen was fueled by Russell’s comments in Qatar and that made him even more hungry to pass the Brit in the first corner and run away with the victory. He also added that Russell was “hysterical all weekend” and “Mercedes [Wolff] made a big meal out of it,” as if saying that they overreacted.
As a result, Wolff went on to criticize Horner’s approach to managing his star driver and mentioned that he should keep a tighter leash on him. Perhaps this is what started the whole canine-themed war of words, which ended with Wolff calling Horner a “yapping little terrier.”
“It’s just weak,” said Wolff, according to ESPN. “At the end, why does he feel entitled to comment about my driver? How does that come? But thinking about it, I’ve spent 90 seconds to think about it… Yapping little terrier. Always something to say.”
Not only is it not nice to call people names, but it always seems like an even lower blow when you compare someone to an animal—my two cents. Of course, this is just daily life for a big-shot F1 team principal, so nothing surprising here. However, I will say that Horner’s attempt to deflect Wolff’s comments by giving a lengthy comment to the media didn’t trick anyone into thinking it didn’t bother him.
“I love terriers! I think they’re great dogs,” Horner told Mirror. “I’ve had four of them. I’ve had a couple of Airedales, the king of the terriers, and I had a couple of West Highland terriers called Bernie and Flavio. The good things about terriers is they’re tremendously loyal.
“Bernie, he was an aggressive little dog—he’d go for anybody. And Flavio was a bit more chilled out and probably ate a bit too much. To be called a terrier, is that such a bad thing? They’re not afraid of having a go at the bigger dogs. I’d rather be a terrier than a Wolff, maybe,” he concluded.
Clearly, he was bothered by Wolff’s comment—and that’s understandable. But I also love the fact that he named two of his terriers Flavio (after Briatore, obviously), and Bernie, after the F1 supremo.
2025 Starts Now
Come Monday, it will be a different world for everyone involved in this season-closing drama. Verstappen will go into the off-season a four-time champion but also with the news that he will become a father in 2025—something that was confirmed via Instagram Friday morning. Meanwhile, Wolff will be saying goodbye to his favorite son after many years by his side. And not to mention, Russell will have to assume the role of lead driver and hope he can keep Kimi Antonelli behind him, while Hamilton will surely experience a drastic culture change the second he sets foot in Maranello.
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