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Wolff on Rosberg and Hamilton team radios conflicts Mercedes

Wolff on angry radio messages of Hamilton and Rosberg: 'They were young'

11 August at 07:00
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  • Kada Sarkozi
  • Editor

Following the 2014 regulation change, Mercedes were able to jump the field completely. As a result, their two drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg became the two biggest contenders for the title in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Toto Wolff gave an insight on how he dealt with the high-tempered situations after Grands Prix when the two were fighting for the aforementioned championships.

Following the Hungarian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen was criticised for the way he talked to his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase during the race. Mercedes team principal and CEO, Toto Wolff, himself also had to deal with similar radio messages when he had the driver line-up of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

The rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg is one to remember in Formula One. Hamilton was victorious in 2014 an 2015, while the German got the better of Hamilton in 2016, after which season he decided to retire from the sport. According to Wolff, there were often some high-tempered conversations with the two champions, as a small margin was the difference between victory and second place. "If the car even stops under them in the meantime, it's natural that we are the competitor's trash cans, and they can take their frustrations out on us. However, there is a limit that must not be exceeded," he told Formula.hu.

Wolff continued: "I saved some unpleasant team radios, which I then played for them. 'This is shocking', is how they reacted to their own radio messages. I asked them if the team had ever told them when there was a driver error how bad a job they were doing. The expectations regarding how everyone communicates in the team are valid back and forth."

However, Wolff they sees that it is something the pair of drivers had to learn at the time. "It should be added that they were both too young, so it is somewhat understandable that they used us as trash cans."