British press claim Mercedes are considering toughest sanction; Guilty party could be stood down from 'one or two grands prix'
Wednesday 6 July 2016 06:38, UK
Mercedes are considering taking the ultimate sanction against Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg by suspending them if they err again, according to The Daily Telegraph and The Times.
Hamilton has pleaded with Mercedes management not to impose team orders after Toto Wolff admitted the instruction was "on the table" this week following his drivers' latest collision in Austria.
However, some of Tuesday's newspapers claim even tougher sanctions are being considered, including fines worth hundreds of thousands of pounds and even suspending Hamilton or Rosberg.
"Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg could be fined or even suspended by Mercedes if they crash again under drastic deterrents being considered by the world champions in a bid to avoid imposing team orders," Daniel Johnson wrote in The Daily Telegraph.
"The Telegraph understands increasingly exasperated team bosses feel they have been left with no choice but to act firmly and decisively after Hamilton and Rosberg collided for the third time in five races in Austria on Sunday.
"This could include either a sporting penalty - the ultimate sanction being to take one or both drivers out of the car - or a financial one, a fine worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. How exactly the system would work when there is no clear culprit for a collision, which was not the case on Sunday with Rosberg penalised by the stewards, remains unclear'.
Martin Brundle column: No sense for team orders
The Times adds the guilty party could stand down from "one or two grands prix".
"Insiders say that Wolff is in despair after seeing his drivers throw away 60 points in the constructors' championship in five grands prix because of their private war and is also sick of the poisonous atmosphere between the pair," reports Kevin Eason.
"The alternative to team orders is to hit the drivers with fines, but those would have to run into hundreds of thousands of pounds to make any impact on two drivers who between them earn about £45million a year.
"By far the bigger threat, though, would stand down the guilty party from one or two grands prix. That alone would derail their championship ambitions."
The papers claim that team orders remain the more likely option, and that Hamilton faces a battle to persuade management that they would do more harm than good.
"Rosberg has already said that he would obey," adds Eason.
Don't miss the F1 Report: Austrian GP review on Sky Sports F1 at 8.30pm on Wednesday as Stoffel Vandoorne and Jaime Alguersuari join Marc Priestley in the studio.
