Mercedes Motorsport boss Toto Wolff has released a statement, that neither Lewis Hamilton nor Nico Rosberg, will be favoured in this years drivers championship battle.
Both drivers have been able to battle each other on track throughout the season. But a collision on the second lap at the Belgian GP last time out, that ultimately put Lewis Hamilton out of the race and let Rosberg go on to take second behind winner Daniel Ricciardo meant that German suffered a “suitable disciplinary measure” for his part in the collision.
Wolff did not comment on what the actions would be, but it is believed to be a heavy penalty for Rosberg’s bank account.
Not only was Rosberg spoken to, but also Hamilton. Both drivers were warned that further wheel-to-wheel racing which could end in a collision will not be tolerated.
After suffering a broken front wing in the contact with Hamilton, Rosberg continued to finish second in the race at open up a 29 point gap over his team-mate. However, Wolff has said that Mercedes will not favour any driver regardless.
“Both drivers are racing at the absolute limit against each other, and we are not going to interfere in the race result, or pre-agree any race result. This is not what we will ever do,” Wolff told Press Association Sport.
“When the racing happens we need to react sometimes, but we will not pre-agree in favour of one or the other. This is not what we do.
“The team discussed at length what the consequences [the incident at Spa] could be.
“But there is one thing we stand for at Mercedes-Benz, and this is racing, straight and fair racing, and we remain committed to that.
“The drivers have to respect each other, and this is what they do.
“But you can never expect to avoid a bumpy ride when you have two drivers from the same team in a World Championship fight.”
Wolff also said that a meeting was held at the team’s headquarters to figure out ways to move on from the controversial collision and make sure it did not happen again.
As well as Wolff both Hamilton and Rosberg and Mercedes Executive Technical Director Paddy Lowe was also in attendance.
“The meeting reminded us again of the circumstances and that the outcome was unacceptable and painful,” Wolff added.
“But considering what happened (at Spa) was not a satisfactory situation at all, the meeting was professional and I think the outcome was okay.
“Sometimes you need situations like this to clear the air, to enable us to move forward stronger as a team with clear rules.
“Just to add, we didn’t oblige or force Nico to make an apology. It was his decision. He said he had looked at things and that was what he had decided.”
