© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
After Toto Wolff explained how Mercedes managed the title fight between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, Christian Horner said Red Bull is doing the same thing “but just a bit better”.
As the fastest team on the grid right now, Red Bull has no competition on the track from the other teams. This means that the only title battle fans can expect is the one between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
The relationship between these two drivers is definitely not perfect, and the tensions escalated at the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, when Verstappen refused to obey a direct team order and let Perez pass him, to give back the position that the Mexican gave him a bit earlier in the race.
With these two drivers now only 6 point apart in the 2023 Drivers’ Championship standings, it’s likely that there will be involved in more controversial situations in the future.
Since Mercedes has extensive experience with two drivers within the same team battling for the championship, Toto Wolff was asked how his team managed the battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg from 2014 until 2016.
“I can tell you from my past,” the Austrian said.
“It’s a super tricky job for Christian and the team, because both drivers will obviously try to always feel that they’re fairly and equally treated, whilst at the same time, trying to have an advantage.
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“And I think in our team, it was important to maintain a lot of transparency and clarity, discuss things before we actually go racing on a Sunday. Put boundaries.
“And, at the end, both drivers, even with Nico and Lewis, respected the team’s opinion, whilst we acknowledge that they have a fight between the two of them.
“So going back in time, there’s things I probably would have done differently in 2016, particularly, but the balance right between accepting these two guys are racing for a championship, and it’s within the same garage. And at the same time, they are part of a larger structure.
“I think that is not always easy, because they are very competitive animals,” Wolff concluded.
When Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was asked the same question, as always he gave a ‘classy’ response.
“We just do everything Toto says but just a bit better,” he said, before going into how his team manages their drivers.
