Toto Wolff of Mercedes has downplayed Lewis Hamilton’s recent comments saying that his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, is ‘not German.’
Hamilton made his comments in regards to the next race in Hockenheim, Germany, and whether he felt Rosberg would feel the advantage of a home crowd boost, like Hamilton did at Silverstone where he won last time out; after Rosberg’s gearbox failed him whilst leading.
The Brit said that Germany was not really his “home race,” with his father, Keke Rosberg being from Finland and Nico, living in Monaco most of his life.
Rosberg has hit back at his team-mates snide remarks by saying he is ‘100% German,’ and released a photo of his new helmet design for his home race, sporting the colours of the German flag and also congratulating the German national football team for their World Cup victory.
Wolff believes that Hamilton’s comments have been twisted and have been blown out of proportion.
“It was meant as a joke,” he said during an interview with the German news agency DPA.
“It (Hamilton’s comments) was not reproduced in the way that he intended it. But they are fighting each other for the world championship, so there are bound to be situations that are less spectacular in reality than they are presented to the public,” Wolff continued.
Asked if he was surprised by the reaction to Hamilton’s comments, the German answered: “Formula one has an incredibly high media presence, and so if something sounds controversial then this effect is only multiplied.
“Then there can be a momentum that is impossible to stop.
“For us, the important that was to discuss this internally in a very timely and transparent way. In this case it was resolved quickly,” said Wolff.
Until Silverstone, it seemed as though Rosberg appeared to have regained the upper hand in the title battle after wins in Monaco and Austria and a second place in Canada after Hamilton retired. It seemed apparent that he had a clear emotional and psychological edge over Hamilton, who has two retirements this season.
But Hamilton’s British Grand Prix win has now closed the gap to within four points.
“It’s almost a fresh start heading into the second half of the season and it’s going to be a really close battle between us,” the British driver said on Tuesday.
Wolff also denied that Rosberg still has the psychological edge.
“Both of them are incredibly strong mentally,” he insisted.
“Every time we talk about one of them having momentum on his side, it flips around to the other one again,” Wolff explained. “So it’s difficult to see any pattern.”
