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Wolff repeats warning for Hamilton and Rosberg
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has reiterated his team will not tolerate tensions between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg if they were to spill over and create problems within the team.
Jonathan Noble
Published: Dec 7, 2015, 11:08 AM
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Wolff revealed in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com last week that the team may have to reconsider its driver line-up if it feels the relationship between the duo starts hurting its atmosphere.
Although Hamilton insisted the tensions were normal and that there were no problems, Wolff has stood by his belief that the situation needs looking at carefully.
"It is important to keep the spirit within the team and there is a bunch of very competent people," he said on stage at the Autosport Awards.
"Competition between Nico and Lewis got very fierce and very competitive at times, and it is understandable because they are fighting in a car that is capable of winning a championship against each other. The guy in the other car cannot be your friend.
"But we need to be careful that it doesn't spill over on both sides of the garage. We have seen at teams in the past that there is a competition that has been created that is not good for the dynamics within the team, and this is what I try to re-emphasise. I will have a close look at it."
Wolff says examples from F1 history of team form being hurt by tension between drivers has made him mindful of how he deals with Hamilton and Rosberg.
However, he says the fact his drivers have grown up together makes him optimistic that he can stop the situation getting out of control.
"The lucky situation is that they have known each other a long time and sometimes we tend to over-interpret the animosities going on," he said
"They have known each other since they were eight years old, they have been on holidays and I think that is the good situation we are facing. But if it becomes detrimental to the team, it would mean we would not maintain the long term set-up with the drivers."
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