16/09/2014
NEWS STORY
As the championship fight heads towards its climax, Toto Wolff admits that his two drivers are now like enemies.
Though they have known one another since their early teens, when they both raced in Karts, it was inevitable that once they finally squared up to fight for the sport's ultimate prize that friendship would be put to the ultimate test.
And whilst a series of incidents, on and off track, left most of us in no doubt, the Mercedes team boss has now confirmed that the two drivers are at war.
"It has changed from, let's say, an almost amicable relationship at the beginning of the season to a very intense moment, where it was almost like realising these two are enemies competing for the world title," he told BBC Sport.
"It's a learning process," he continued. "These boys have been calibrated their whole life that their main priority is to win the drivers' championship in F1. And here they go - they are in the same car, competing against each other for that trophy and one is going to win and one is going to fail. This is a new experience for them - a difficult experience maybe."
In the wake of the incident in Hungary, which finally ripped a wound that has been festering for much of the season wide open, both drivers were warned that whilst they were free to battle there could be no more collisions. Wolff subsequently admitted that should there be any further stupidity one of the drivers could be shown the door.
A clean sweep at Monza, pole, victory and fastest lap, saw Hamilton close Rosberg's lead to 22 points, with six races remaining.