F1 team bosses engage in spat as Red Bull's Horner calls Wolff a 'good pantomime villain'

The F1 Drivers' Championship is tight as ever as Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen (287.5) leads Mercedes F1's Lewis Hamilton (275.5) by 12 points ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix this weekend.

As much as the F1 2021 season seems to be about the Verstappen vs Hamilton battle for the title, it also seems to be about the Horner vs Wolff battle as the two team bosses have had various spats over the course of the season. In one of the latest exchanges, Red Bull's Horner called Mercedes F1's Wolff a good fit to be a 'pantomime villain' after the latter claimed the Brit would be a good protagonist for Hollywood.

F1 2021: Horner vs Wolff battle intensifies

While Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner and Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff have never seen eye to eye, the spats between them are getting rather feisty considering their roles of team bosses. Speaking of Horner in a recent interview with the Daily Mail, Wolff said, "I feel he is one of the protagonists in a pantomime, part of the Formula One cast, and for me as a stakeholder, as a team owner, it's great that he creates these kinds of stories. But it's irrelevant. People have a microphone in front of them or a camera on them, and they start to behave like little actors, like Hollywood."

In response, Horner told reporters during the FP2 session of the Mexican Grand Prix, "I was quite flattered actually, being called the protagonist if you look at what the definition of what that means. I think you also need an antagonist to have a protagonist, and one could say perhaps Toto fills that role pretty well. If it were a pantomime, perhaps the pantomime dame role might suit him."

Mercedes F1 lock front row at Mexican Grand Prix

While Christian Horner is unlikely to be affected by Toto Wolff's comments, he will not be happy for certain that Mercedes F1 will lock the front row at the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday, at a track that experts believed heavily favoured Red Bull Racing. Valtteri Bottas grabbed pole position ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton with a storming lap. The Mercedes F1 duo will be followed by the Red Bull Racing duo of Max Verstappen in third and home favourite Sergio Perez in fourth.

Image: AP, Twitter@JoePompiliano