Austin, Texas - Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff says the pressure is on the team to make sure the Formula One championship is decided on the race track between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
World champion Hamilton trails Rosberg by 33 points heading into Sunday's US Grand Prix after a season in which Hamilton has been hampered by mechanical problems.
Having already won the Constructors' championship, the priority for Mercedes “is to give both our boys the best possible chance of winning the remaining four races,” Wolff was quoted as saying on the Formula One website.
“The title is purely between them, which is fantastic news for the team as we can be happy whatever the final outcome,” he said.
“However, the pressure is on to ensure that their battle is decided man-to-man, and hopefully wheel-to-wheel, on the race track.
“We may already have celebrated our championship success as a team - but we have a responsibility to the drivers and will not let anything distract us from the job at hand.”
‘Going all out’
Hamilton clinched his third Drivers' title in 2015 at the Circuit of the Americas just outside Austin; he has won three of the four races staged there.
“We've got four races left to make the most of it and that's exactly what I plan to do,” he said.
“It's just about hitting every race weekend as hard as I can, going all out for every win and seeing what happens from there. I'll be holding nothing back out there.”
DPA