Hamilton and Bottas relationship has made Mercedes 'stronger' - Wolff

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has claimed that the positive relationship between Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas had made the Silver Arrows 'stronger' than they were in the previous year due to the toxic partnership between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in the 2016 campaign.

Rosberg won the world championship in the 2016 season but even though Mercedes also won the driver's championship, the atmosphere behind the scenes was negative due to the Finn and Hamilton regularly clashing. Rosberg went on to shock everyone by announcing his retirement shortly after winning the title, meaning that Mercedes had to find another driver.

Bottas came in and both championships were secured again, but Wolff insists that the internal atmosphere is much better this time round.

"Nico put us in front of a fate accompli - there was not even a discussion [about retiring] - and it was difficult to find the right driver, but we gave it some time to decide and eventually we got just the right guy into the team," Wolff told Autosport.

"In the past I always believed that a very fierce rivalry between team-mates would be good for the team because they would be pushing each other.

"The lesson I learned is that is probably not true - you need two team-mates that perform at a high level that keep pushing each other in the car, but the rivalry shouldn't spill over into controversy outside of the car.

"The mindset and the relationship between the two made us stronger, gave an open and honest environment, and fundamentally our very fast, difficult car we got it into a good place also because the two worked so well together.

"The dynamic between Valtteri and Lewis made us develop the car in a very efficient way and made us win the two championships, so not for one second do I regret where we are today."