Boullier: Mercedes F1 team faces impossible task to control drivers

After a controversial weekend in Monaco, where tensions between Hamilton and Rosberg erupted in public, Boullier suggested that Mercedes is facing a tougher challenge than it expected in keeping its drivers in line.

He thinks the fact that the relationship between the Mercedes drivers has fallen apart so early in the season points to further trouble on the horizon.

When asked by AUTOSPORT how hard it is as a team boss to keep a lid on drivers when they have fallen out like Rosberg and Hamilton, McLaren's racing director Boullier said: "It is impossible at this early stage of the season, so good luck to them.

"It is very early in the season so I don't know what they have been doing.

"But it is going to be tough for them going through the rest of the season."

ALONSO THINKS TENSION INEVITABLE

Fernando Alonso, who lived through troubled times at McLaren alongside Hamilton in 2007, thinks it is very unlikely that there will not be further flashpoints down the road between the Mercedes drivers.

"I think it's normal in all sports, especially Formula 1," he said about tense relationships inside teams.

"There's media attention, a lot of pressure, things going on inside the team.

"You should beat your team-mate to get respect. Of course if there's also a championship battle in the [team] garage it becomes more tense and more public, sometimes even separated.

"I'm sure if they have some other [difficult] times in the year, everything will be separated, but I hope they have clean battles and a good championship [fight].

"Whoever wins will hopefully be the best of the two and the one who deserves it more."