Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has declared he would have dropped Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg from races had their intense rivalry continued to harm the team. Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Wolff revealed he used an 'iron fist' to manage the pair during their tumultuous partnership from 2013 to 2016.
The rivalry, which soured a long-standing friendship, peaked with several on-track clashes, including a collision at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix that took both drivers out. Wolff warned that any repeat of such behaviour would not be tolerated. 'I always made clear that if this was going to happen regularly and I would see a pattern, I have no fear in making somebody miss races,' he said.
Wolff's approach to driver selection has been shaped by this experience. After Rosberg's retirement in 2016, Valtteri Bottas was brought in as a less confrontational teammate, and Hamilton has since won every title from 2017 onwards. However, with both drivers on one-year contracts and George Russell waiting in the wings, Wolff stressed that future decisions will prioritise team harmony. 'If the debriefing room is full of negativity because the two drivers are hostile with each other, that is not something I will ever allow again,' he added.
Meanwhile, Mercedes sporting director Ron Meadows praised Michael Schumacher's contribution to the team's later dominance. Schumacher, who drove for Mercedes from 2010 to 2012, helped improve the team's processes. 'He was a different level of driver than we'd ever worked with,' Meadows said. 'A lot of our winning was down to him because he made us better.'
