'It’s pantomime season' – Horner responds to Verstappen/Russell rift as he addresses Wolff’s ‘terrier’ comments

Christian Horner has given his take on the recent fallout between Max Verstappen and George Russell – as well as responding to remarks made by Toto Wolff – with the Red Bull boss not concerned that the row will spill over on track after suggesting that it is “pantomime season”.

Tensions have escalated between the two drivers after Verstappen was handed a one-place grid penalty for driving unnecessarily slowly on a cooldown lap during qualifying last time out in Qatar, leading the Dutchman to state that he had “lost all respect” for Russell over how he felt the Briton behaved at the stewards’ hearing.

READ MORE: ‘He’s made it personal’ – Russell accuses Verstappen of ‘crossing a line’ over Qatar stewards’ room fallout

Russell then accused Verstappen of “crossing a line” and said that he had “made it personal”, as well as commenting that he wished the world champion “would be a better role model”.

When asked ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix if he was concerned that the row could continue to play out on the track, Horner responded: “No, not at all. Max is 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 we haven’t seen before and a subsequent grid penalty. He turned that into motivation and made a blinding start, led the race into the first corner and won the Grand Prix, which is the best possible response.

“A lot has been made of it yesterday. It’s 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 on the Grand Prix itself.”

READ MORE: Verstappen says he ‘lost all respect’ for Russell after stewards’ hearing in Qatar over qualifying incident

Reflecting further on Verstappen’s comments about the stewards’ hearing, Horner added: “Max does nothing but tell the truth so I believe 100 per cent what he said to be accurate.

“There [were] other people in those stewards’ rooms as well, and they also came back and reported that they were quite surprised at the approach that was taken.”

Horner was also quizzed on remarks made by Toto Wolff in which the Mercedes boss referred to his Red Bull counterpart as a “yapping terrier”.

“I love terriers! I think they’re great dogs,” answered Horner. “I’ve had four of them, I’ve had a couple of Airedales, they’re the king of the terriers. I had a couple of West Highland terriers called Bernie and Flavio. The thing about terriers, they’re tremendously loyal.

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“To be called a terrier, is that such a bad thing? They’re not afraid of having a go at the bigger dogs – I’d rather be a terrier than a wolf maybe.”