But Wolff insists warning to his drivers has been received
Tuesday 15 December 2015 07:57, UK
Lewis Hamilton has admitted there is friction between him and Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Hamilton is talking from a position of considerable strength after he claimed his second successive world championship.
Both Rosberg and Hamilton have been repeatedly warned by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff that the team will consider changing their driver line-up unless their warring drivers learn to co-exist.
Yet in an apparent signal that there will be no let-up in their rivalry, Hamilton told Saturday night's Jonathan Ross Show: "There is friction. When l was 13 l went racing in Italy and when l got there he was the golden child. He would arrive in a helicopter and have the best of everything.
"But we became friends after our first race together, he was leading it the whole way and l was behind him and then overtook him on the last lap.
"We're in F1 now and he, more than ever, wants to set the record straight. But there's only room for one number one."
Hamilton has beaten Rosberg in all three of their seasons as team-mates, culminating in his title-winning campaigns of 2014 and 2015.
Yet, despite Mercedes also winning successive Constructors' Championship, the ongoing bickering between their drivers has frequently overshadowed their success with the fall-out to Hamilton's own coronation as champion in the US GP dominated by his unseemly cap-gate spat with Rosberg.
But speaking at Mercedes' 'Stars & Cars' celebration in Germany on Sunday night with both Hamilton and Rosberg in attendance, Wolff was adamant that the message had got through to his drivers
"Nico and Lewis know very well what was meant," said Wolff. "It is always underestimated what a role team spirit plays."
