Three-time Formula 1 World Champion and chairman of Mercedes AMG F1 team, Niki Lauda said he told the Mercedes board that Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg would collide one day.
In an interview he gave to the FIA magazine Auto, Lauda said his straightforward attitude has at times rubbed the Mercedes board up the wrong way. Lauda explained he understands race drivers vey well, and told the board that it was almost inevitable that the pair would one day collide out on the race track. "Sometimes management is pissed off with me because I tell them what's going to happen," Lauda declared. "We had a board meeting in Stuttgart with all our bosses there and I said: 'They will hit each other'. 'How can you say this?' they asked. 'Because I know.' Lauda continued "And the drivers know that I also defend them. I'm the only one who speaks the same language - being part of them and part of the management. So we have a very good relationship. They find it very hard to convince me of things I don't think are right."
The Austrian added that the infamous Spa-Francorchamps collision was the only time the management really needed to intervene with the drivers all season. "We've only had one serious discussion about these things - only in Spa. There was nowhere else we had a problem, so really we've had peace between the two, no aggravation. In our meetings before the race they are relaxed, they know what they are doing. "They know the responsibility for Mercedes - that we want to finish first and second. This is a team order. And then one or the other wins the race and the other one has to be second,” Niki Lauda said.
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