- Mercedes
Wolff does not expect Hamilton and Rosberg to be friends
Toto Wolff does not expect Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to remain friends this season despite the two appearing to patch up their differences before last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.
The pair had refused to talk to each other on the podium after finishing first and second at the Monaco Grand Prix two weeks earlier, with Hamilton claiming they are merely colleagues and not friends.
In the gap between Monaco and Canada, however, Hamilton tweeted that he had cleared the air with his team-mate and made reference to their long friendship since their days in go-karts.
Nevertheless, Wolff is willing to admit that the reality is a little different and he expects only a certain level of respect to be maintained between his drivers.
"Racing drivers will never be friends because we are not going to the weekends and doing a little bit of fun racing," he said. "This is their job and this is a very competitive environment. Everything that has been said about the great friendship is probably a nice story but it isn't actually how it is in reality.
"They are colleagues and as long as they respect each other, treat each other fairly, and represent the brand in the way we expect the brand to be, then for us it is fair and square."
Wolff said the spat between the drivers had more impact in the media than it did within the team. "You can discuss whether Sunday night [in Monaco] was appropriate, with Lewis being upset or not. But he is hugely competitive, he finished second and he was upset because of the Saturday.
"It is good it has calmed down, but then on the other side it has no major effect. It is not really detrimental to the spirit of the team, although obviously it is a good story. There is no difference to any other company and in every company you have situations where you need to sort out the relationship between humans.
"What you see between the drivers is obviously very visible for everybody because of the media, but these kinds of issues you just need to somehow have a neutral standpoint and communicate how you see things and how things should be handled. If you have individuals like the two of them, who are switched on and understand what it is about, then it is not difficult at all."
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