Christian Horner's spying mission at Mercedes may fail with ban in place for 'other teams'

At the Autosport Awards on Sunday, Christian Horner saw the perfect opportunity to get a close look at Red Bull's rivals in bidding £4,000 for a tour of Mercedes' factory. But Horner may well not get his wish due to terms and conditions included in the small print.

Red Bull and Mercedes are once again expected to go toe-to-toe this season having played their part in an enthralling campaign in 2021.

There is no love lost between the two title protagonists either, with Horner and Toto Wolff often coming to blows in the paddock.

Heading into a new season, particularly one with fresh regulations being introduced, there is even more secrecy about what teams have been doing over the winter months.

But Horner felt he saw the perfect opportunity to take a sneak peak at what his rivals were up to.

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The Red Bull chief forked out £4,000 for the behind-the-scenes tour at the Autosport Awards Charity Auction, with proceeds going towards Grand Prix Trust.

And he even joked that he would be hoping to take 'about 20' of his Red Bull colleagues on the tour.

"Adrian [Newey, Chief Technical Officer], myself, Pierre Wache [Technical Director] and probably Paul Field, our Director of Production," he joked to RacingNews365.

"It'll be interesting to go and see how they're spending their budget cap."

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However, Mercedes have reminded Horner of the terms and conditions included in the tour.

"We haven't discussed it yet," a Mercedes spokesperson told The Sun.

"To do so, we'd have to waive the terms and conditions under which it was offered -- always pays to read the small print!"

It is reported that terms for the Mercedes tour state "that employees of other