Breaking news
Formula 1
Mercedes needs intra-team "disruption" - Wolff
Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff says his team needs "disruption" between its two drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in order to perform at the highest level.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Dec 11, 2017, 11:46 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Wolff made it clear that he wants to have both of his drivers in contention for the championship, as that will help to raise the level of the whole team, even if it proves difficult to manage.
This season the two drivers enjoyed a fruitful relationship, but only rarely did Bottas seriously challenge Hamilton on track.
"I don't think we need to avoid a stressful situation," said the Austrian. "We need to acknowledge that, if two teammates can fight for race wins and a championship, that this will be a rivalry.
"And we need to be conscious and acknowledge that that is the case.
"We are not trying to build a new family here, we want to be the most effective racing team, and an effective racing team needs stress, needs tension, needs disruption as much as it needs calmness and a positive attitude and mindset.
"But like everywhere in life you want to have the mix of both, probably the recipe for success."
Wolff praised Bottas for turning his 2017 season around – and he believes that the Finn's struggles in the second half of the year may ultimate benefit him.
"The best ones are the ones that recover from bad moments. And maybe in a few years we will look back and say this was an important moment for his racing.
"The only thing we can do as a racing team is to stay transparent and fair to both of them, support them where we can, but eventually they are alone in the car. And he pulled himself out of it.
"He's a hard Finn. I could never see, visually, that it was impacting him – he said that, but I think with the strength of his character, he crept back.
"And every race, there was better performances, and Brazil the qualifying was good, the race less so, but he knew that, and then he delivered an exceptional weekend here in Abu Dhabi."
Wolff said that heading into the winter on the back of a victory was the perfect scenario for Bottas.
"I think [it was] very important. Because he had a very strong qualifying session and a very strong race that he was in control of all the time, fair and square racing between him and Lewis.
"And I think carrying positive momentum with the race win through the winter, after a difficult time, is probably for him just what the doctor ordered."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Force India outdeveloped us in 2017 - Williams
Next article Renault targets top three in 2018 testing mileage
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
More from
Valtteri Bottas
Colton Herta qualifies for F1 superlicence as Valtteri Bottas remains bullish on 2027 seat
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
Colton Herta qualifies for F1 superlicence as Valtteri Bottas remains bullish on 2027 seat
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas
Formula 1
Canadian GP
You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas
More from
Mercedes
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
13 h
Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP
Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
14 h
Kimi Antonelli: "Weird" spin and car instability cost F1 Brazilian GP win
Latest news
How Max Verstappen beat Red Bull's own simulation tools with P2 in Brazil
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
19 min
How Max Verstappen beat Red Bull's own simulation tools with P2 in Brazil
Who slept best last night: Toto Wolff
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
39 min
Who slept best last night: Toto Wolff
Winners and losers from MotoGP’s contentious Qatar Grand Prix
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 h
Winners and losers from MotoGP’s contentious Qatar Grand Prix
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe