"At times it got very intense" - When Toto Wolff broke his silence on the Lewis Hamilton-Nico Rosberg rivalry at Mercedes

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff once spoke about the "intense" rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes. The duo were childhood friends and had raced against each other for the majority of their careers before they became teammates in 2013 at the Brackley-based outfit. Wolff spoke to the BBC about the two drivers in February 2017.

The British driver generally got the better of his German nemesis in their four years together but the relationship turned sour in 2014 when Mercedes got the turbo-hybrid engine right and started dominating the grid.

Speaking to Sarah Bretton, Toto Wolff spoke about the rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and added that it was very difficult to become a world champion in the sport, saying:

"The intensity of the rivalry was very high. If you imagine your third season in a team where you have the possibility of not only winning races and being bold every single weekend but also it's about winning the World Championships.

"I think because of the performance we achieved in the last years, you tend to forget how difficult it is to become a World Championship-winning driver, and at times it got very intense" (1:17).

Toto Wolff has often spoken about the animosity between the two drivers and how difficult it became to manage it within the team during the three years they were fighting for world championships.

---

When Mercedes team boss gave an ultimatum to Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff once said that he noticed some "selfish behavior" during the 2014 season between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and had to remind the two of the bigger task at hand.

Speaking in April 2021 on "The High Performance" podcast, the Austrian said he had advised his drivers to think about the team while battling wheel-to-wheel on the track, saying (via F1.com):

“The events of 2014, where I felt there was some selfish behavior, I said that the next time you come close to the other car, your teammate, you think about the Mercedes brand, you think about single individuals in the team, you think about Dieter Zetsche, the CEO of Mercedes.

"That’s probably going to change the way you act; you’re not going to put your teammate in the wall. I always made it clear that if this were to happen regularly, and I would see a pattern, then I have no fear of making somebody miss races."

The partnership between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg ended at the end of the 2016 season when the latter announced his retirement from the sport after winning the world championship ahead of his teammate.

The German went on to become a successful entrepreneur and F1 pundit while Hamilton conquered the sport in the following years and became a seven-time F1 world champion, and has now left Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025.