Brundle recalls ‘sniffy’ Toto Wolff text after Christian Horner comment
Martin Brundle gave Toto Wolff his flowers after Brazil
Martin Brundle lifted the lid on a past Toto Wolff text, received after being asked to pick who was better out of the Austrian and Christian Horner.
That question was put to Brundle by former Mercedes driver and 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg. His response at the time may have made Wolff “quite sniffy with me,” but after Mercedes secured the F1 2026 title double in Brazil, Brundle gave a glowing appraisal of the Silver Arrows’ boss.
Martin Brundle declares ‘full respect to Toto Wolff’
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli arrived at Interlagos already the new world champion elect. His podium result at the prior round in Mexico City had proven more than enough to secure the crown with four rounds remaining.
The next task at hand was to secure the Constructors’ Championship. Mission accomplished again.
With that, the Brackley squad climbed back to the F1 summit, its first Drivers’ title since 2020 and team’s crown since 2021 in the bag.
After the struggles of the ground effect era, Wolff demonstrated that he is more than capable of leading his team through the tough times and bringing it back to the top.
This achievement was poignant, as Sky F1 commentator Brundle harked back to a previous assessment of his, and updated his stance on Wolff.
Wolff and Christian Horner, his former F1 paddock frenemy and the ex-Red Bull team boss, now share in common the proven ability to take a team that has fallen from the summit back there.
Horner did it with Red Bull as its run of four Drivers’ titles with Sebastian Vettel was replicated via Max Verstappen between 2021-24. Red Bull also added two further Constructors’ titles to the trophy cabinet during that Verstappen streak.
Brundle was more than happy to give Wolff his flowers in Brazil.
Speaking after the race concluded with Mercedes confirmed as double champions, the Brit said: “Quite a few years ago, Toto got quite sniffy with me because I was asked directly by Nico Rosberg who did I think was better, Christian Horner or Toto Wolff.
“And at the time, Christian had brought Jaguar, and everybody else at Red Bull, out of nowhere and won and then came back and got the momentum going again and won again.
“And Toto sent me a text. It buzzed in my pocket as I said that, ‘Thanks.’ But because I felt that he had inherited something that was going really well at Mercedes-Benz.
“But my goodness, has he taken it places. And then he has very much got it back on track and dominating again, and it’s amazing and full respect to Toto.
“He’s a man with a huge amount of respect in the paddock because he’s a straight talker and he delivers, and I think he’s monetised Formula 1 better than anybody I’ve ever seen.”
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Wolff has made it clear that he has no plans to step away from the day-to-day operations of Mercedes F1 anytime soon, despite having firmly cemented his place among the greats in his field.
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