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Mercedes to decide on team orders in the coming days

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says his team will decide over the next days whether it imposes team orders following the latest crash between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in the Austrian Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid

XPB Images

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid leads team mate Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid leads behind the FIA Safety Car
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid leads team mate Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid
Race winner Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid celebrates in parc ferme
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 limps around the track
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid
(L to R): Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 and team mate Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 in the post qualifying FIA Press Conference

Hamilton won the race after Rosberg's car was damaged as a result of contact between the two when the Briton tried to pass the German for the lead on the final lap.

The accident is the pair's second this year after they took each other out in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Wolff admitted that, with the Barcelona crash having happened so recently, Mercedes may need to impose team orders as its drivers have shown they have not learned the lesson.

"At Barcelona I was much more at ease with it because we had 30 races without any collision," said Wolff.

"It was clear that it was going to happen eventually and from my naive thinking I thought they had learned the lesson and it's not going to happen anymore.

"Here we go, it happens again, so you have to look at all the options available and one option is to freeze the order at a certain stage of the race, which is unpopular and makes me want to puke because I'd like to see them race, but if the racing is not possible without contact, that's a consequence."

When asked if he expected his drivers to respect the team orders given they are battling for the championship, Wolff said: "Yes, in capital letters."

Wolff said a decision on team orders will be made later this week: "We have to cool down a bit and in the next couple of days we will know.

"For sure because there's a race next week we need to discuss internally with all guys involved how we want to manage the situation going forward."

The Austrian said that Mercedes' decision will not change irrespective of what Hamilton and Rosberg could say.

"We will make a decision irrespectively of what they say. It's the core race team that's going to make a decision and it could go either direction. The outcome needs to be that we avoid contact between the two cars, so everything is going to be on the table."

No blame

While his drivers blamed each other for the accident, Wolff said it was not so clear to him.

"I don't think it's really black and white. Nico was with a car that was handicapped, trying to brake late, and not on the line that was probably normal. And Lewis came from the outside. That's where the first contact was made. So what I'm seeing is it takes two to make contact.

"I don't want to attribute any blame because every time you watch the video and look at the onboards there is new information. I have my personal opinion. I'm not going to express it here, but as a matter of fact that needs to be avoided.

"Brakes were marginal. There wasn't a lot left. At the end of the second to last lap, Nico's brake-by-wire failed, so he had no electronic braking. It reduces the performance of the braking."

Wolff insisted that the incident will have no impact on the contract talks with Rosberg.

"No, nothing. The contract is a long-term decision and isn't influenced by a race incident."

 Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble

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Edition

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