By Alan Baldwin
SPIELBERG, Austria, July 3 (Reuters) - Mercedes boss Toto
Wolff threatened to impose 'team orders' on Lewis Hamilton and
Nico Rosberg, however unpopular the move, after yet another
collision between the battling Formula One title rivals in
Austria on Sunday.
The team mates have clashed three times in the last five
races -- in Spain, Canada and the Red Bull Ring -- as their
championship duel heats up. Wolff said something had to change.
"It's unpopular, it makes me puke, because I like to see
them race, but if the racing is not possible without contact
that's the consequence," he said of a move that would force the
drivers to hold position after a given point of the race.
On Sunday, the pair collided on the last lap as triple world
champion Hamilton tried to seize the lead by going around the
outside of the German.
The Briton ended up the winner while Rosberg dropped to
fourth and saw his lead slashed to 11 points with 12 rounds
remaining.
In Spain in May their collision came on the opening lap and
led to both retiring.
"In Barcelona I was much more at ease with it," said Wolff.
"We had (gone) 30 races without collision, it was clear it
was eventually going to happen, it wiped out both cars and from
my naive thinking I thought to myself: 'Okay they've learnt the
lesson, seen what the consequences are and it's not going to
happen any more'.
"But here we go, it happens again. So the only consequence
is to look at all the options and one option is to freeze the
order at a certain stage of the race."
Such a move would be deeply unpopular with fans, who yearn
for more of the drama seen over the closing laps in Austria as
Hamilton reeled in Rosberg before making the fateful move.
Mercedes have taken pride in letting their drivers race,
telling them only to keep it clean and avoid contact, and Wolff
said any decision would not be taken lightly.
"I have to cool down and in the next couple of days figure
it out. Next thing I'm going to do is put my head in a bucket of
ice," said the Austrian.
"We will make the decision irrespective of what they (the
drivers) say. It could go in either direction. We need to avoid
contact between the two cars whatever the decision is.
Everything's on the table."
(Editing by Clare Fallon)