Wolff: Mercedes doesn't need team orders for Hamilton and Rosberg

Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff says the team can successfully manage Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg without needing to employ team orders

Rosberg and Hamilton had a spat after the Chinese Grand Prix, with the German accusing Hamilton of deliberately trying to back him up into Sebastian Vettel during the race.

The German had radioed his team to ask Hamilton to speed up because he felt he wasn't going fast enough.

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The team did so and Hamilton upped his pace, but the reigning world champion later said that his main concern was his own race and conserving his tyres.

Wolff said that the team would interfere if a race win was at risk but he insists there are ways around having to give a direct team order.

"If you ever come to the call of interfering between the two of them, because we risk to lose a race win, we would do that," said Wolff.

"We don't have the gap any more from last year where we can let them push each other until the very end. We need to manage the gaps between the two of them.

"What we understand as the clear team order - which we have seen in the past - that you are not allowed to overtake because you are the faster car for example, this is something that I can honestly not see happening.

"I can understand why teams in the past did it, because they were under threat of losing a championship, and we haven't been in that situation yet.

"But managing more without making such a drastic call is within possibility now."