Toto Wolff forced in to 'shock therapy' move to stop Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg from imploding during rivalry peak
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was forced to make a radical intervention to prevent Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg from imploding during their championship battle.
Hamilton and Rosberg were teammates at Mercedes from 2013 to 2016, as the team dominated Formula 1.
The team finished second in the 2013 Constructors Championship, but they returned in 2014 with the fastest car on the grid.
After a thrilling wheel to wheel battle in Bahrain, the pair collided for the first time at the Belgian GP later year.
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Hamilton was forced to retire from the race at Spa, but the Brit recovered to win the world title.
The 2015 season was more comfortable for Hamilton, who won his third world title with three races left.
But in 2016, the championship became incredibly tense, leading to several high-profile incidents on track between the Mercedes stars.
At the Spanish GP, Rosberg forced Hamilton onto the grass, who lost control and smashed into his teammate, taking them both out of the race.
The rivals collided again on the final lap in Austria. Rosberg, who was leading, damaged his front wing and dropped from first to fourth in just a few corners.
Their championship battle culminated at the final race in Abu Dhabi.
With Hamilton leading and Rosberg second, the Brit deliberately backed his teammate into Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, knowing if they could pass Rosberg, then Hamilton would take the world title.
But Rosberg held on to second place and clinched his first and only world championship.
Just days later the 39-year-old announced his retirement from F1.
What did Toto Wolff do to manage the drivers?
Rosberg, who was working as a pundit for Sky Sports, spoke about his rivalry with Hamilton.
He said that although initially the tensions were just between the drivers, they spread to involve the mechanics and engineers.
Rosberg added: "At the beginning of 2016, it was so toxic that even when something failed on my car, my mechanics would sometimes not really tell the other side.
"So what Toto did was overnight swap the mechanics over.
"And the mechanics are my friends, my family. And suddenly they were on Lewis's car and Lewis' mechanics on my side were kind of my enemies.
"That was like a shock therapy and it worked amazingly."
Wolff's decision paid off as Mercedes dominated the 2016 Constructors Championship.
They finished the year with 765 points, nearly 300 points clear of their nearest rivals Red Bull.
Topics: Formula 1, Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, Motorsport
James Taylor