Rosberg and Hamilton may bay as Mercedes’ Wolff will not howl at drivers

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says he will not waste time telling Nico Rosberg, left, or Lewis Hamilton to hold their emotions in check. Mark Thompson / Getty Images

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has made it clear he will never attempt to quell the emotion of drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg has come under fire this past week for turning on Hamilton after the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday.

While Rosberg was valid in his call over the radio for Hamilton to speed up during the crucial middle session of the race for fear of falling into the clutches of a chasing Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari, his emotional dig at Hamilton has been questioned.

Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, suggested Rosberg had shot himself in the foot by airing his grievances in such a public way.

Wolff, though, insists Rosberg and Hamilton are clear to vent their feelings, so he was unsurprised at what transpired after the race at the Shanghai International Circuit.

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“That scenario was discussed on Sunday morning and you must understand the emotions in that moment,” Wolff said.

“We don’t censor them being emotional. They get out of the car after two hours and they’re either happy or frustrated, and you need to allow that.”

Despite all within Mercedes learning from what transpired between Rosberg and Hamilton last season, Wolff conceded that while he does not believe their rivalry will boil over this term as it did in Belgium in August, not every scenario can be accounted for.

“You can try and have a handle and be on top of situations and try to understand where it’s heading to, whether it’s dangerous ground or not,” Wolff said. “But it’s still racing. There is a certain degree of unpredictability in the sport.

“Of course, both of them know of the responsibilities they have towards the thousand people who are behind the performance of the car, and they appreciate that and honour that.

“But then it’s also a drivers’ championship and they know the priorities pretty well.

“They have functioned well since the beginning, with a little wobble here and there, and probably this is how it’s going to continue.”

Meanwhile, the Mercedes duo found themselves in unusual positions towards the rear of the time sheet at the end of the first practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

But there was no alarm as Mercedes focused on a particular plan, with the 90-minute session at the Bahrain International Circuit hardly representative of what all the drivers will face in qualifying and the race.

At the start of FP1 and with the track exceptionally dusty – a situation that will naturally improve over the weekend with use – the circuit and air temperatures were a searing 52° and 36° Celsius respectively.

With qualifying and the race to start at 6pm local time, temperatures will drop considerably.

It meant Mercedes focused on laps rather than outright pace, with Rosberg chalking up 23 and Hamilton 22 - but with their times far behind the lead car, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.

The Finn set the pace with a lap of one minute, 37.827 seconds, two-10ths of a second up on teammate Sebastian Vettel, the German who trails reigning champion Hamilton by 13 points after the first three races of the campaign.

Vettel only managed 12 laps, primarily because of a loss of power with his car relatively early in the session, but with enough time in hand to ensure he returned to the circuit.

Williams’s Valtteri Bottas followed the Ferrari pair, a little more than half a second off the pace.

The Finn was followed by Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen in fourth and sixth, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo splitting the young pair.

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