Anarchy won't work, Mercedes boss on Hamilton incident

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of Germany (left), cheers his teammate Lewis Hamilton of Britain on the podium after the Etihad Formula One Grand Prix at the Yas Marina racetrack in Abu Dhabi.

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff said Lewis Hamilton's tricks in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix title decider have set precedent. And then he let a terse warning: 'anarchy doesn't work in any team or any company'.
Hamilton refused to toe Mercedes' bosses diktat, not once but twice and slowed in final laps hoping the eventual champion Nico Rosberg would be overtaken and miss out on podium finish and the title crown.
"It was one of the possible ways for Lewis Hamilton to win the Championship... if Nico Rosberg would come under pressure from behind and that is exactly what happened," Wolff said during the Press conference at the Yas Marina Circuit.
Elaborating on the reasons behind team orders for Hamilton, Wolff said they actually risked losing the race - a point even Mercedes F1 non-executive chairman Niki Lauda pointed out after the race.
Wolff said: "There were two moments in the race where there was a risk that we would be losing the race. One was Max Verstappen. It wasn't clear whether he was on a one-stop and was in a good position. And the other one was Sebastian Vettel lapping two seconds quicker. At that stage we felt he would win the race. We were doing 45.9s and he was doing 43.7s. Our clever guys said this was a race we were going to lose. Our number one principle since three years - and it doesn't matter if it's the first race or the last - was to assure a win. Now, you can question that, whether it's the right principle going forward, but that's exactly what we did on the pit wall. There were these two moments and this is why we asked him to increase the pace."
And the Hamilton incident was something that Mercedes boss had a tough time dealing with.
"I was in two minds. One half of me said with 1,500 people in the team and 300,000 in Daimler that create values and respect those values. And undermining a structure in public means you're putting yourself before the team. It is very simple. Anarchy doesn't work in any team or any company. The other half said it was his only chance of winning the championship at the stage. And maybe you cannot demand a racing driver that is one of the best, if not the best out there, to comply in a situation where his instincts cannot make his comply. It's about finding a solution how to solve the problem in the future because a precedent has been set."
Wolff clarified the radio interference: "We let them race in the last three seasons without any interference. We would have interfered only when our objective of winning the race was under threat."
He said it was a 'highly entertaining race with lots of controversies'.
"Rosberg could have overtaken Hamilton, which could have ended up us having lot more controversial discussions."
Wolff confirmed that Mercedes executive director (technical) Paddy Lowe is the 'highest escalation we have in our order of engagement'. But even Lowe's orders were defied by Hamilton.
Asked about the consequences for Hamilton's actions, Wolff just said: "I haven't formed my opinion yet in this. This is something I will keep internal."
On way forward: "Everything is possible - maybe we want to give them even more freedom in racing each other, or we could to go the more harsh side if we feel the values were not respected. These options are 180 degrees and I'm not yet sure where the needle is going to go."
Interesting days ahead at Mercedes: Will they chuck out Hamilton? His contract runs till end of 2018 season.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com

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