F1: Horner pans Wolff’s retort on 2026 Regulations

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has hit back at arch-rival Toto Wolff’s remarks about Horner’s 2026 technical regulations concern.

Horner suggested that grand prix racing’s bosses need a rethink over plans for the 2026 cars.

I could not agree more – they’re ridiculous.

Wolff said: “I think what frightens him [Horner] more maybe is that his engine program is not coming along, and then maybe he wants to kill it [the rules] that way.

“So, you always have to question what’s the real motivation to say something like that.”

“Unfortunately, that’s typically Toto, where he’s just focused on self-performance,” Horner told Autosport, when asked about the remarks. “My interest is actually about the sport rather than self-gain.

“It is still way too early to say who’s going to have a competitive or uncompetitive engine in 2026. For me, the most important thing is, from a sports point of view, that we all have a collective responsibility to work with the FIA and the commercial rights holder, to ensure that the product is as good as it can be. Otherwise, we’ve all failed.”

“The regulations are a hybrid of what was originally intended,” added Horner. “Of course, it’s only as you work through a set of regulations that you find out where their limitations are.

“I think the FIA are being very responsible in terms of doing their due diligence. And, I think, certain teams share very similar opinions on that.”

Asked by Autosport if he had faith that the FIA was taking the matter seriously enough, Horner said: “Yes. I think so. I think they have a capable team and that they’re aware of what the challenges are.

“You have heard recently the [FIA] president’s comment about weight. Now, that’s not an easy thing to reduce, when you look at the increase in [battery] cell size that we need and the cooling that obviously goes with that.”