Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff has defended Nico Rosberg following comments from former driver David Coulthard, claiming the German shows little aggression when battling team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
“If Rosberg had gone off the track because he braked too late in an attempt to keep Hamilton behind, that would have showed aggression and intent,” Coulthard said of the Hamilton-Rosberg fight at the Japanese Grand Prix.
“He [Hamilton] is prepared to put things on the line and deal with the consequences and, good as Rosberg’s pass was on Williams’s Valtteri Bottas in Japan, we have not seen Nico do that against Lewis.”
Coulthard believes it may stem from the 2014 Belgian GP in which Rosberg made contact with Hamilton and was later sanctioned by the team.
Wolff insists however that Rosberg’s “nice-guy” image isn’t a sign that he’s given up or is unable to fight his team-mate and come out on top.
“Of course, we try to maintain a good relationship in the team and not have any animosity and sometimes when a driver appears to be nice it is seen as a weakness, but it is not that at all,” he is quoted by Autosport.
“The way I see him and the way I feel where he is, he has not given up. This is what I see in Nico’s case, with his character,” he added.
“I wouldn’t want to say there is a tendency that if they fight it is Lewis who comes out on top. That’s definitely not the case for me.”
Wolff did however admit that the Briton has been very impressive this season.
“He was very dominant,” he said. “It is back to the momentum he had before [Singapore]. His driving was very impressive.”
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