Christian Horner has played down speculation his F1 nemesis Toto Wolff might quit Formula 1.

Wolff, the team boss at Mercedes, sat out the recent Japanese GP - ostensibly for knee surgery - and was replaced by new deputy Jerome d'Ambrosio and communications boss Bradley Lord.

At the same time, others in the paddock, including Sky reporter Craig Slater, have noticed the 51-year-old Austrian - a one-third team owner - take a notably lower profile at several recent grands prix prior to Suzuka.

When asked if he would miss his now notorious rivalry with Wolff, Red Bull team principal Horner said: "For me, sport is about rivalry. There has to be a respect, but sport isn't sport without rivalry.

"Obviously we haven't seen much of him (Wolff) the last couple of years but I'm sure he's plotting. I'm sure he's got something that they're working on.

"They're a great team," Horner added. "They are a big team. They have got great drivers. They'll be looking to fight back and it hurts when you're losing.

"If it doesn't hurt, you shouldn't be doing it." body check tags ::