Christian Horner delivered one final painful blow to Mercedes before leaving Red Bull

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Christian Horner had a dramatic rivalry with Mercedes and Toto Wolff during his time as team principal at Red Bull.

The 52-year-old battled for the championship with the Silver Arrows in the late 2010s, eventually winning it with Max Verstappen in 2021. This season brought the feud between Horner and Wolff to its highest peak due to the controversy of the final race in Abu Dhabi.

Wolff felt Horner lacked sympathy towards Lewis Hamilton after race director Michael Masi allowed lap cars between the Brit and Verstappen to overtake on the safety car restart, which ultimately led to the Dutchman winning his maiden title.

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The rivalry continued up until Horner was sacked as Red Bull team principal in July 2025. To this day, the Milton Keynes outfit have not given a reason for the decision, but Wolff thinks Horner’s ‘entitlement’ cost him.

It is said that Horner was ‘jealous’ of Wolff’s power at Mercedes, given that he is a shareholder and CEO of the team as well as team principal. It was something his rival wanted at Red Bull, but they would not give him absolute control.

Heading into 2026, Red Bull are working on their in-house power unit with Ford. Under the guidance of Laurent Mekies, they are hoping to compete for the title, and Horner gave them a huge boost by unnerving his rival one last time.

Christian Horner signed 212 Mercedes engineers to their ‘arch-enemy’ Red Bull

A report from De Limburger notes that Horner was pivotal in attracting ‘top talent’ to Red Bull to their engine department. By mid-2024, 550 mechanics and engineers were on the team’s payroll.

Of those staff, ‘212 have a history with Mercedes‘. The Brackley outfit have a rich history of perfecting regulation changes as they dominated the turbo-hybrid era from 2014 to 2021, highlighting how big a coup Horner pulled off.

It also unsettled Red Bull’s rivals, as it ‘pains’ Mercedes that so many staff chose to vacate to the ‘arch-enemy’ and help the project in Milton Keynes.

That was particularly the case with former head of Mercedes engines Ben Hodgkinson, who is now Red Bull’s technical director. Mercedes grabbed multiple titles under his tenure; his exit was a ‘slap in the face’ for Wolff, and a huge win for Horner before leaving Red Bull.

READ MORE: Who is Christian Horner? All you need to know from Red Bull to net worth

Even Helmut Marko praised Christian Horner for his work in attracting Mercedes staff

While Horner was not the most popular of figures, even within his own team, he played a hugely important role in building Red Bull and setting the foundations for the project today.

Even Helmut Marko, who ‘cannot stand’ Horner after feuding with him behind the scenes on numerous occasions, had to applaud his efforts with Red Bull Powertrains.

“It’s incredibly impressive what he has achieved in such a short time, and he fits perfectly with the Red Bull mentality,” said Marko.

“When we do something, we do it right. He has taken all the good people away from Mercedes, including Hodgkinson. Horner deserves credit for that.”