Toto Wolff has reiterated his warning that continued disharmony between his drivers will not be tolerated.

Last week, the Austrian admitted that the bad feeling between the two is now directly impacting the team, thereby threatening its ability to continue winning.

Having warned that were it to continue one of the drivers would be shown the door, last night he reiterated the threat.

"It is important to keep the spirit within the team and there is a bunch of very competent people," he said at an awards ceremony in London. "Competition between Nico and Lewis got very fierce and very competitive at times, and it is understandable because they are fighting in a car that is capable of winning a championship against each other. The guy in the other car cannot be your friend.

"But we need to be careful that it doesn't spill over on both sides of the garage," he warned. "We have seen at teams in the past that there is a competition that has been created that is not good for the dynamics within the team, and this is what I try to re-emphasise. I will have a close look at it.

"They have known each other a long time and sometimes we tend to over-interpret the animosities going on," he admitted. "They have known each other since they were eight years old, they have been on holidays and I think that is the good situation we are facing. But if it becomes detrimental to the team, it would mean we would not maintain the long term set-up with the drivers."

Rosberg's current contract ends at the end of next season, whilst Hamilton's new contract, signed earlier this year, has him at the team until the end of 2018.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Yeyox02, 08/12/2015 22:08

"Wolff is the kind of "leaders" or "bosses" who believe that threatening others is a good way to solve problems among employees so they behave. He has not more resources than that and this shows that he is not a boss because he is no prepared to handle and manage people. Mr. Ross Brawn WAS and IS a real boss."

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2. Posted by Jonno, 08/12/2015 8:51

"Toto Wolff has to be the worse manager in F1. He might have problems with his drivers, but discussions about the situation should be kept behind closed doors. If, as we keep on hearing from the forum experts and a few not so bright newspaper men, he is having most problems with Lewis Hamilton, it is his own fault. He should have realised a top team cannot have an equal pairing of drivers. One has to be the leader and he should get preferential treatment. Lewis Hamilton is without doubt the Mercedes No 1. If Lewis loses the seat, who replaces him? A designated No 2 or someone who will also want to fight Rosberg for wins?
If Wolff wants a No 2, then Rosberg accepts his position or goes. Should Ferrari turn up with a better car next year, I have no doubt Rosberg isn't capable of beating Vettel. Once Vettel gets the beating of Rosberg, Rosberg will fall apart. He crumbles under pressure, we've seen that from the beginning of his F1 career. Lewis Hamilton has had dozens of failures over the years, he's risen above them time and time again.
"

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3. Posted by Spindoctor, 08/12/2015 7:51

"I can't see these rather thinly veiled threats as making the situation better.
Reading the runes I'd guess that its Hamilton most likely to get the chop, as evidenced by his mysterious & sudden loss of performance at the end of last season.

This would be a fairly risky strategy. Ferrari are looking strong, and Mercedes' performance advantage is being whittled away. Factor-in the new tyre regulations ("cliff" and all) and they may not be winning quite so readily next season. One of Hamilton's big problems at the end of last season was the Mercedes' seemingly higher (than say Ferrari) sensitivity to running in disturbed air, which isn't a problem when you're on pole every race, but....

Rosberg is a competent journeyman, but Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton, even Verstappen he ain't. In roughly equal cars, I'd bet on Vettel beating Rosberg 8 times out of 10.

Looking on the bright side, Lewis would walk away with several 10's of millions and could pursue his "music career", and Mercedes could tempt Verstappen or Alonso into the car. Might be fun."

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4. Posted by ryanhellyer, 07/12/2015 14:35

"Some people are seeing this as a threat against Lewis. But I'm wondering if it's more of a threat towards Lewis. He may be world champion, but World Champions have been dumped by their teams before (see Hill and Mansell), so it's not entirely unreasonable to think that Mercedes may dump Lewis if things continue on their current path."

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5. Posted by AlexDAM, 07/12/2015 14:11

"Nico this is no way to be treated by your team, call out Wolff, tell the drama queen to buy out your contract with a significant compensation payout or shut the hell up.
He can't even get his wife a drive in F1 so how much power does he really have. "

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Wolff reiterates driver discord threat

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