Mercedes could be willing to suspend Rosberg/Hamilton over clashes

The Mercedes team-mates were warned of consequences that would "have a negative effect on their campaign" in a meeting with team chiefs at Silverstone on Thursday following their last-lap collision battling for victory at the Red Bull Ring last Sunday.

While a sizeable financial penalty is an option open to Mercedes, the belief within the team is that neither driver would be sufficiently unduly affected to view that as a strong enough deterrent.

The indication is that banning a driver is a route Mercedes, and Wolff in particular, would be prepared to head down.

"We've had a warning, and this is the final warning," Wolff told the media on Thursday ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

"The discussions were very good. It's a scenario none of us want to be in.

"It's clear for both drivers that we go through a tough time when we lose points when the cars collide. And that was acknowledged.

"We have had an accumulation of accidents in the last few races which has led to a situation that we somehow need to contain."

'THREE SHUNTS IN FIVE RACES'

Wolff said it had been made clear to the drivers that not only would a collision such as the last lap clash in the Austrian GP no longer be tolerated, but the same applies to smaller incidents such as the first corner wheel-banging in the Canadian GP.

"Both are incidents that we don't want to see again," he said.

"We didn't like the manoeuvre [in Austria] because it could have ended up in a double DNF.

"And they know that such a manoeuvre cannot happen again.

"We've come to a point that we don't want to spend our days inside the team analysing how much blame, how much fault, we want to attribute to each of the drivers.

"We don't want to have them go around like puppies, but equally, let us please not have three shunts in five races.

"If the drivers clash three times in five races it is risking our main objective, which is to win the championship."

ROSBERG/HAMILTON COULD BE SENNA/PROST

Wolff accepted the positives of the coverage created by his drivers fighting on track, and he said because of that he was keen not to interfere too much at this stage.

"I understand the importance of headlines for Formula 1 and it's great, so this is not an easy task," he said.

"I wouldn't want to change the wiring of the drivers.

"In a few years we could be looking back saying Rosberg/Hamilton was iconic, one of the best fights, similar to what Senna/Prost had.

"I'm very aware of that and I don't want to over-manage it and try to extinguish the whole thing."