Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Wolff expects 'more intense' Hamilton and Rosberg battle

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Toto Wolff expects the battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to be "more intense" in 2016 as a result of new radio regulations.

Teams will be heavily restricted on the information they can give to their drivers via team radio this season, with the move being made in order to force drivers to make their own decisions in the car more often. With Hamilton and Rosberg having a tense battle within Mercedes over the past two seasons, Wolff expects the intensity to increase due to the new regulations.

“There is much less information and data being provided to the drivers during the races - on engine modes, on tyres and strategies,” Wolff told the official Formula 1 website.

“So the natural outcome of these regulation changes is that it will be again much more down to the drivers to take decisions. That means that the direct competition between the two is guaranteed and will be more intense.”

And Rosberg says he is a fan of the change as it presents each driver with an opportunity to find an advantage over his rivals.

“It’s challenging but I like it because it’s more down to yourself out there," Rosberg said. "More and more and more you just figure your own way out out on track. I think that’s good, it’s just more pure and that's good for the racing.

“Let's see how it goes. For sure it is an opportunity to do things a little bit better.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.