Toto Wolff sends Ferrari clear warning about Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc feud
Toto Wolff has sent Ferrari a warning after admitting he feels a sense of deja vu due to the ongoing feud between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
During the Mexico City Grand Prix, Ferrari teammates Hamilton and Leclerc clashed on the opening lap, allowing Max Verstappen to slip past and claim the race win.
Since then, the Ferrari pair have exchanged several blows in the media, blaming each other for their costly feud, something which is all too familiar for Mercedes team principal Wolff.
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Toto Wolff's brutal warning to Ferrari over Hamilton v Leclerc saga
Following the clash both during and after the Mexico City GP, Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur reportedly pulled his drivers into an emergency meeting on Thursday evening ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
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For Wolff, the incident brings back memories of when he had do manage the tension between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg during their spell as Mercedes teammates.
The pair drove together for four seasons, from 2013 to 2016, and are famously known to have not worked well together as they each competed for the championship between 2014 and 2016, when Rosberg retired.
“Fred here doesn't need any advice from me, but it's like déjà vu,” Wolff said when asked how he would advise Ferrari deal with their driver feud.
“You've asked me exactly the same questions for how many years? 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. Then Nico called it a day. Four years, exactly the same situation."
Public criticism, team-order disputes and the pure quality of the two drivers is essentially what turned Rosberg and Hamilton from childhood friends to bitter rivals.
But Wolff warned his Ferrari counterpart that this is simply the cost of having two elite drivers who want to be the very best, claiming that it likely needs to get worse before it can get any better.
“Sometimes when you put two strong drivers in there, the best ones have edges and they want to win, and that is a situation that is always very difficult to cope with, obviously under the media spotlight if those cars race at the front," Wolff added.
“In that respect, I can so relate to what Fred goes through at the moment. And I think sometimes it needs the really tough ones, where, like the last one, to make a point.
“It was always when I was there with Nico and Lewis, when there was an accident, it was understood that that was now the limit, and it wouldn't continue like this.
"That's why maybe it needed to escalate to that point, because it's respect for the team, many thousands of people, the brand, who work together, and that's what they need to keep in their heads.”
What really happened in Ferrari's crisis meeting ahead of Brazil GP?
As is to be expected, details of Ferrari's team meeting to clear the air between Hamilton and Leclerc before they race in Sao Paulo are sparse.
What we do know, is that the meeting took place inside the team's hotel, with Vasseur, Hamilton and Leclerc all present to review their clashes both on and off the track in Mexico.
It has been reported that Vasseur told the pair that Ferrari’s interests must come first and that they would be expected to respect each other and the hard work that the team has put in and not risk everything to compete with each other.
But when asked about the meeting, the Ferrari boss give little away, drawing more parallels to Wolff's time managing Hamilton and Rosberg at Mercedes.
“I'm not sure that Toto ten years ago told you exactly the content of the discussion with Nico and Lewis, and I will do exactly the same,” Vasseur said.
“We had the discussion. It has to stay private. It's a matter of respect also for them and for the team.
"But once again, the most important is the message. The message is that we are working for a brand, we are working for sponsors, but I would say we are probably mainly working for the employees of the team."
Meanwhile Leclerc has said that he considers the issue to be settled and will now focus on the upcoming race weekend.
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Topics: Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Ben McCrum
