- Mercedes
Mercedes warns drivers not to change approach
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says he does not want Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg to stop respecting each other on track just because the team has secured the constructors' championship.
Though the title rivals have been allowed to race this year, after the pair's "unacceptable" collision in Belgium - which led to Hamilton's retirement - the team stressed the importance of securing the best result for the team. But in Russia Mercedes secured the constructors' crown, while Hamilton's gap of 92 points over third-placed Daniel Ricciardo with 100 available from the final races means the drivers' crown looks certain to end up at Mercedes.
Despite the constructors' crown meaning the emphasis on a team result might be deemed less important now than the drivers' title, Wolff does not want to see it decided by a collision similar to the one at Spa.
"I don't think we are going to change something in our approach because we want them to race each other respectfully," Wolff said. "We saw that in Russia, it was Nico's corner and he just missed the braking on the dirty line and Lewis was very cold blooded, and that was very good. So it will not change the approach. We don't want it to end in some kind of circumstance with events on the track.
"Of course 92 points means Ricciardo would need to win all three remaining races and Lewis not score eight points. Even though I am a pessimist, that would be a 'black swan, black swan, black swan' event!"
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