War between Russell and Verstappen out of control as Horner follows up dig at rival Wolff but FIA WON’T take action

CHRISTIAN HORNER snapped back at Toto Wolff by saying “I’d rather be a terrier than a Wolff”.

The Mercedes boss unleashed his fury at Horner on Thursday by labelling him a “yapping little terrier” amid the furious row between George Russell and Max Verstappen.

It came as it emerged Verstappen will escape any punishment from the FIA over Russell's allegations.

Horner lapped it up in Friday's press conference, revealing he is a huge fan of terriers and once owned four of them, while aiming a cheeky dig at the Mercedes chief’s surname.

Two were even named Flavio and Bernie, presumably after former Renault boss Flavio Briatore and ex-F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone.

The Red Bull boss, 51, who is married to Spice Girl Geri Halliwell-Horner, said: “I love terriers, I think they are great dogs.

“I had four of them and a couple of Airedales, which is the king of the terriers.

“I had a couple of West Highland terriers called Bernie and Flavio. And the good thing about a terrier is they’re tremendously loyal.

“Bernie, he was an aggressive little dog, he’d go for anybody. Flavio, he was a bit more chilled and he probably ate a bit too much as well.

“But I think to be called a terrier is that such a bad thing? They’re not afraid of having a go at the bigger dogs.

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“You know, rather be a terrier than a wolf.”

Horner only continued to fan the flames by later posting an image of the terrier Bernie on his Instagram.

Russell and Verstappen's war of words has dominated the build-up to Formula 1's final race of the year.

But Wolff and Horner have been at each other's throats for years and have provided several viral moments on the hit Netflix show Drive to Survive.

The spat is giving F1 fans a reminder of the duo’s fierce conflict in 2021 when Lewis Hamilton missed out on a record eighth world title to Verstappen in the Abu Dhabi desert that year.

As for whether he is worried that Verstappen and Russell’s feud could spill over onto the track this weekend, Horner added: “No, not at all.

“Max, he’s a very straight shooter. He just tells you exactly how he sees it. He tells the truth exactly, what he feels.

“Obviously he had a large amount of frustration last weekend. The way things played out in a scenario that we haven’t seen before and subsequent grid penalty.

“He turned it into motivation and made a lightning start, led the race into the first corner, and won the Grand Prix, which is the best possible response.

“Now, obviously, a lot’s been made of it Thursday. It is pantomime season, we’re getting ready for Christmas. There’s maybe an element of end of term blues there, but I don’t think it’ll have any effect.”

With Hamilton set for his last race with Mercedes this weekend before joining Ferrari for the 2025 season, Horner said Wolff's focus should be elsewhere.

He added: “It needs to be about what you do on the track. I mean, there's a sort of a love-hate relationship, where I think Toto loves to hate me.

“It's one of those things. I would have assumed he sort of got a bit more on his plate with obviously it's Lewis's last race for that team.

“I think they should be celebrating that rather than focusing on other aspects.”

Wolff, who gatecrashed Russell’s press conference on Thursday to slam Horner, also said that the Red Bull boss had been too “weak” to properly control Verstappen.

Horner hit back at this and said: “Regarding Toto's other comments, I'm not going to rise to the bait of that. Everybody manages themselves and their teams in different ways.

“We've won 122 races. We've won 14 world championships. I think we're doing alright.”

Verstappen is set to escape any further punishment from the stewards despite allegedly saying he would put Russell’s “f***ing head in the wall” in Qatar.

The stewards are not set to investigate the serious allegations that Russell dropped on Thursday ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

The British 26-year-old claimed Verstappen threatened to put his "f****** head in the wall" by deliberately crashing into him at the Qatar Grand Prix last weekend.

Mercedes star Russell also branded the four-time world champ a "bully" with the Dutchman hitting back by labelling him a "backstabber" and "loser".

Russell and Verstappen’s feud simmers away with the duo sitting on opposite ends of the table at the driver’s dinner

Eyebrows have been raised over the FIA’s lack of intervention considering they recently clamped down so hard on swearing punishments.

In Singapore, Red Bull's Verstappen was ordered by FIA stewards to "accomplish some work of public interest" after dropping the F-bomb to describe his car.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fined for saying f*** in a post-race news conference in Mexico.

Russell and Verstappen’s feud continues to simmer away with the duo sitting on opposite ends of the table at the driver’s dinner on Thursday night.

Lewis Hamilton invited the drivers ahead of his last race at Mercedes, while his former teammate Valtteri Bottas got the bill.

Norris wrote on Instagram: “2024 dinner! and yes, the two your thinking about were sat as far away from each other as possible.

He followed the message with a crying laughing emoji and a smiling emoji while Verstappen commented with a steak emoji, alluding to the beef with Russell.

Verstappen was all smiles yesterday, blocking out the drama to announce he is expecting a baby with partner Kelly Piquet.

He said: "Mini Verstappen-Piquet on the way. We couldn’t be happier with our little miracle.”