As Motorsport.com Deutschland reports, Christian Horner has opened up about the wild hours following the legendary 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in his recently published autobiography, "Drive". While Max Verstappen was busy DJing and Red-Bull cocktails were flowing on a boat in the marina, Horner's phone vibrated with a message from the man whose team had just suffered arguably the most bitter defeat in Formula 1 history: Toto Wolff.
"Dear Christian, sorry I couldn't catch you this evening when you came over to us," Wolff's text read, as quoted in the book. "Congratulations on the Drivers' World Championship with Max. He is a worthy champion and a tough competitor. Enjoy your evening. You've earned it." It was a remarkably magnanimous gesture after months of brutal warfare between the two camps, and following a finale whose outcome remained deeply controversial long after the checkered flag.
Congratulations on your Constructors' World Championship. Remember: That's where the money is!
That chaotic climax, of course, had unfolded when a late crash from Nicholas Latifi, a tyre change for Verstappen, and a controversial call from race director Michael Masi completely flipped the race. Lewis Hamilton was left stranded on used hard tyres while Verstappen charged in on fresh softs for a final-lap sprint. Eager to clear the air, Horner made his way to the Mercedes hospitality unit after the podium ceremony. He wanted to speak to Wolff face-to-face, believing that whatever happened on track should stay on track.
Instead, he initially crossed paths with Anthony Hamilton. The father of the defeated title defender warmly shook his hand and offered congratulations. When asked about Wolff, Anthony pointed upstairs to the office, where Horner found Susie Wolff and other members of the Mercedes leadership team sitting in heavy gloom. Horner offered his sympathies for a tough result while acknowledging their Constructors' World Championship success, though the man he actually came to see was missing in action.
Wolff's absence proved telling, as Horner suspected his rival was already huddled with legal advisors preparing protests. Mercedes ultimately lodged two official challenges. The first targeted Verstappen briefly moving ahead of Hamilton behind the safety car, which stewards dismissed because the Dutchman had dropped back into position before the restart. The second challenged the restart procedure itself, specifically the decision to wave past only the five cars between Hamilton and Verstappen instead of the entire field, and pulling the safety car in immediately. Stewards rejected the appeal, defending the race director's authority and refusing to wind the classification back to the penultimate lap.
When the hearing took place in the stewards' room, Wolff was absent once again. The Mercedes delegation consisted of team manager Ron Meadows, chief race engineer Andrew Shovlin, and legal counsel Paul Harris, squaring off against Horner, Adrian Newey, and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley. Horner admits he felt like he had stepped into a parallel sporting universe, though he understood Wolff's intense pain as a winner who hates to lose. Horner even wondered how the late Niki Lauda might have handled the situation, while also suspecting Wolff was attempting to lobby FIA president Jean Todt over the phone—though Todt reportedly insisted his stewards were completely independent.
Although the stewards dismissed the protests that Sunday, the FIA later acknowledged in March 2022 that the safety car protocol had not followed the rulebook's required extra lap, and that the handling of the lapped cars stemmed from a human error while praising Masi's good intentions under immense pressure. Mercedes ultimately dropped their intention to appeal on December 16, with Wolff making it clear they did not want to win a world championship in a courtroom.
That makes Wolff's private text message all the more striking. Horner didn't let the moment pass without a cheeky reply, writing back to thank him and adding: "Congratulations on your Constructors' World Championship. Remember: That's where the money is!" It was a typical Horner wink toward the financial prize, even if it brought little comfort in the moment. Yet, looking back, Horner concedes that sending those gracious words on such a brutal night could not have been easy for his fiercest rival.
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