Rosberg deal ensures two number one drivers - Wolff

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Nico Rosberg's new contract with Mercedes ensures the team retains "two number one drivers", according to Toto Wolff.

Mercedes confirmed Rosberg had signed a two-year contract extension on Friday morning, keeping him at the team until the end of the 2018 season. With Rosberg and team-mate Lewis Hamilton having had a number of controversial clashes this season, Wolff admits such a situation is likely to occur again but says it is a price Mercedes is willing to pay.

“No, I’m never confident that we are on top of the issues," Wolff told Sky Sports. "It’s rock and roll - or they rock the boat - but we are conscious in that decision.

"We know that sometimes it can be a more bumpy road having two number one drivers in the car that keep pushing each other. It raises the performance of the car but it gives those moments where it’s about managing a difficult situation, so we are conscious about that.”

And Wolff says he cannot see a situation where Mercedes will ever prioritise one driver over the other.

“No it was always very clear with the two of them that this is the philosophy that we will follow of having absolute equal material and equal opportunity. I don’t see this happening, I hope it goes on until the end. It’s exciting for us, it’s exciting for the fans. It might make me grow some grey hair but up to now I’m doing OK!”

Explaining when Rosberg's contract was actually signed, Wolff said the negotiations had been relatively simple as both parties were happy to continue.

“It was never in doubt that we wanted to stay with Nico and I guess it was of interest to him to stay in the best current car. So we had the right spirit and the right momentum in those discussions but the final signature came last night.”

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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.