Nico Rosberg quips Toto Wolff ‘soft’ after Russell and Antonelli contract detail

Nico Rosberg joked Toto Wolff “has gone soft” after the Mercedes boss revealed a crucial contract clause was no longer in his drivers’ fine print.

Wolff would have been replaying old memories as his two Mercedes drivers battled around the Barcelona circuit on Sunday.

Toto Wolff ‘gone soft’ jokes Nico Rosberg

It was fitting that Hamilton should win at this circuit in this season as 10 years ago, he and Rosberg shared one of the most infamous crashes in F1 title history.

With both drivers competing for the World Championship, Hamilton attempted to overtake Rosberg on the inside of Turn 4 but touched the grass and ended sending both himself and his teammate out of the race.

A decade on and Rosberg revealed that Wolff made him and Hamilton sign a contract stating that the cost of the damage for all future crashes would be split 50-50.

Now, with Kimi Antonelli and George Russell getting a little too close for comfort, Rosberg joked that Wolff had “gone soft” when the Austrian team principal revealed that clause was no longer in use.

Here’s how the exchange on Sky Sports went:

Rosberg: “A piece of paper on my desk, and it said, from now on, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is, you’re gonna pay for the damage 50-50. Is that contract still in place? Has Kimi signed it as well?

Wolff: “No.”

Sky Sports presenter Natalie Pinkham: “Why not?”

Wolff: “You’ve given me a good idea actually.”

Rosberg: “You’ve gone soft! You’ve gone soft!”

Wolff: “Let’s see if there’s another collision, then I’ll probably put that paper in front of them.

Pinkham [speaking to Rosberg]: “It did work for you, didn’t it?”

Rosberg: “Was definitely pretty scary, because once I paid $360,000 so I didn’t crash anymore.

Wolff: “After that, Nico ended up in the money investment world.”

Martin Brundle: “Imagine what that would cost now.”

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Mercedes’ intra-team battle in Barcelona may have cost them the win given it allowed Hamilton to extend his lead, moments before a crucial virtual safety car.

Wolff admitted in his post-race conference that the team would “recalibrate” what is expected of their drivers.

“Number one, there is a third party now getting involved in a championship fight – constructor and driver,” he said.

“And in that respect we will discuss internally with them with the two drivers how we want to end the situation where we risk holding each other up.

“I think it was not a problem, it is just maybe we need to recalibrate.”

Read next: How Kimi Antonelli turned the tables on George Russell in Barcelona