Photo: Mercedes.
Two doublets in the championship of pilots and the teams are reason enough to think that in a Mercedes everything is going smoothly. However, they have not managed to stop the rivalry arising between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, with a single-seater much higher than the rest of their rivals, have occupied the top two positions in the rankings in both 2014 and in 2015. The development of the past championship led to more tension between the two, but even though this year the british have been imposed from the beginning, also have been moments that show that their relationship is very damaged, as we saw in Austin. In an interview with Motorsport, the head of Mercedes, Toto Wolff, has shown its concern with this subject: “sometimes we fight for win races on Sundays and always have a pilot annoying. This affects the team, and it is something that has to stop”.
In the squad of the arrows of silver know that the fact of having two drivers with a chance of winning requires more attention to the internal disputes that may arise. Toto Wolff knows the disadvantages of not having a pilot number 1 and another number 2, and warns that in the future this may change: “We made the decision to have two pilots matched with the order to make the team progress faster and better. It was a very conscious decision three years ago. In the future, we will consider whether it is the best option for the team”. The warning is real: “If we feel that are not in accordance with the general line, the spirit and the philosophy of the team, we might consider to take a decision concerning the alignment of pilots in the future”.
That change in philosophy would not be to establish which one is the first pilot and the other the squire, but perhaps to directly change the names: “it Is important to have with drivers as talented and fast, but we want to work with good guys,”. Rosberg has a contract until 2017 and Hamilton until 2018, but Mercedes will take decisions if things do not change. The clash between Nico and Lewis is the weak point of the current champions, according to Wolff, and that is something what you need to improve: “There is much to do in private. I feel that the team is stronger than ever, but the difficult relationship between them is one of our weaknesses. And that is not good. Our greatest strength is the quality and character of all the members of Mercedes, and the biggest weakness is the dynamic in the relationship between pilots and, sometimes, between them and the equipo”.
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