Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff concedes he is under pressure to prevent the feud between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg from boiling over, but is confident he can keep a lid on the situation.
The duelling drivers head into this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal with Hamilton claiming he and Rosberg are “still friends” in the wake of their recent fall-out in Monaco.
Discussions have taken place between them, with more planned prior to the events at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to ensure there is no repeat of the scenes witnessed at Monte-Carlo.
As team boss, Wolff knows he is in the spotlight and concedes that “clearly” he can feel the pressure mounting on his shoulders as the season progresses and incidents occur.
“It is a matter of managing the situation,” he said. “In our case we adopted the philosophy of letting them race, which as a consequence means management is a bit more difficult.
“But I try to be as transparent and as neutral as possible, to give guidance to a situation in a way that it is not detrimental to the team. That is because Mercedes comes first and we will never accept an individual putting themselves above the team.
“Both of them know that, accept it and have adopted that philosophy.”
Hamilton was left fuming with Rosberg in Monaco for what he suggested was a deliberate attempt to thwart his final qualifying lap, and so deny him pole position.
It proved crucial as Rosberg won from pole, with Hamilton runner-up, resulting in a frosty podium ceremony as neither man acknowledged the other.
