No extra rules for drivers at home race - Wolff

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Toto Wolff says he will not impose any extra rules between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton just because Mercedes is racing at home in today’s German Grand Prix.

The two drivers have had a controversial season so far, with both retiring on the opening lap after colliding in Barcelona. Following that incident, there was contact again in Canada before another collision on the final lap in Austria. Despite the chance of further contact at the start of today’s race at Hockenheim, Wolff says he will not impose team orders just because it’s a home race for Mercedes.

“Because everything is televised to millions of people, it is almost like every race is the same,” Wolff said. “It doesn’t get much worse than in Barcelona, where the [Mercedes] board was present and we had to answer the question after 60 seconds ‘what are we doing for the next 90mins?’… So I wouldn’t say there is extra pressure as its pretty much the same everywhere.”

With the two drivers starting on the front row - with Rosberg on pole - Wolff says he doesn’t feel the need to reiterate any expectations to them both ahead of the start of the grand prix.

“Yes I am very confident because we have talked a lot about what the consequences would be and that hasn’t changed. But, as a driver, it’s clear that they wouldn’t want to make a statement before the race that they shouldn’t be crashing – that would be giving too much away. They are aware…”

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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.