F1 News: Mercedes Boss Recalls Threatening To Suspend Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg

Mercedes executive Toto Wolff has had his fair share of the Lewis Hamilton vs. Nico Rosberg rivalry.

Before Hamilton became the biggest name in Mercedes-AMG Petronas, he was paired with another world-class driver in Rosberg.

Though both drivers were exceptional on the track, they didn’t get along well as teammates.

Wolff joined Mercedes from Williams in 2012. At the time, the Hamilton-Rosberg feud was at its heyday, and the newly-appointed executive couldn’t do anything about it.

However, Wolff reached his boiling point in 2014 and threatened to suspend his star drivers if they would continue to go at it.

"I said the next time you come close to the other car, your teammate, think about the Mercedes brand, think about individuals within the team, think about Dieter Zetsche, the [then] CEO of Mercedes, then that's going to change the way you act,” Wolff recently told “The High Performance Podcast” (via GPfans.com).

“You're not going to put your teammate into the wall,” he continued. “And I always made clear if this were to happen regularly, and I would see a pattern, then I had no fear making somebody miss races."

Wolff further revealed that he had to face a handful of challenges in managing Hamilton and Rosberg, given they are the only drivers the team had.

"It's much more difficult because there are only two drivers. It's not easy to find a replacement on that level, but I'm prepared to sacrifice a race or two to make it clear for all future generations who are going to drive for Mercedes that that's not on," the Mercedes boss bared.

In 2016, just days after claiming his first world title, Rosberg retired from Formula One. But for Wolff, only Hamilton and Rosberg could tell whether the rivalry between them is truly over.

"I couldn't change it because the drivers were hired before I came,” he admitted. "Nobody actually thought 'What is the dynamic between the two? What is the past between the two?' There was a lot of historical contexts that none of us knew and will never know.”

Mercedes chief strategist James Vowles also recently weighed in on the Hamilton vs. Rosberg feud.

According to Vowles, Rosberg was more patient and hardworking, while Hamilton was more of a go-big-or-go-home racer.

“Where Nico [Rosberg] was excellent was if you give him time in the car to see what his team-mate’s doing, he’s incredible what he achieves,” Vowles said on the “Beyond The Grid” podcast. “That’s where he was good – he could continuously adapt and evolve if he had sufficient amounts of time under his belt. [But] That doesn’t mean he was poor in changeable conditions, just that’s where his true strength lay between the two.”

“[Hamilton] never gives up, ever,” the 41-year-old continued. “You don’t see his head drop in the race, he doesn’t think ‘I’m 12th, I’m going to give up now.' He just wants to know what’s ahead of him and how to keep fighting. Often we are the ones that have to tell him ‘you just have to accept where you are now,’ because what’s in front of you is just not achievable anymore.”