![\"Toto-Wolff-4\"](\"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/gallery\/f1-2014-rif-images\/f1-2014-persons\/Toto-Wolff-4.jpg\")
One silver-clad driver or the other will almost certainly be crowned this year’s champion, and so far the ultra-dominant Brackley team’s management is giving them a free run to go wheel-to-wheel.<\/p>\nTheir battles may be played out on the track, but Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are also waging a war of the minds in 2014.<\/p>\n
One silver-clad driver or the other will almost certainly be crowned this year’s champion, and so far the ultra-dominant Brackley team’s management is giving them a free run to go wheel-to-wheel.<\/p>\n
“We are cautiously optimistic,” said team boss Toto Wolff.\u00a0 “Perhaps more optimistic than cautious at the moment!”<\/p>\n
Briton Hamilton currently has the upper hand, having won four of the five grands prix so far and finally taking the championship lead from Rosberg in Spain.<\/p>\n
Some believe it is a major psychological blow for the German.<\/p>\n
“Break me down mentally?” Rosberg hit back when asked if Hamilton’s superiority is getting to him.<\/p>\n
“I think he will struggle with that one.”<\/p>\n
Hamilton, six months older than Rosberg, is often credited as perhaps the naturally fastest driver on the F1 grid, while it is said that Rosberg’s speed is more analytically crafted.<\/p>\n
“They are different characters,” Wolff told the APA news agency.<\/p>\n
“Lewis has instinct and merciless speed,” said the Austrian.\u00a0 “Nico’s preparation is meticulous.\u00a0 He has a great understanding of the car and is fascinated by the data.”<\/p>\n
But Wolff said Hamilton also does not neglect the hard work off-track.<\/p>\n
“He has become an incredibly hard worker,” he said.\u00a0 “This year even more than last.\u00a0 I think everything has now taken a higher priority.”<\/p>\n
However, Wolff said Hamilton’s character has another side.<\/p>\n
“He is incredibly sensitive to criticism,” he explained, “with strong reactions.\u00a0 But this is also why he drives as he does.”<\/p>\n
Team chairman Niki Lauda said after Hamilton’s Barcelona win that the 29-year-old Briton is currently “unbeatable”.<\/p>\n
Earlier, 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell hailed Hamilton’s 2014 form as “close to perfection”.<\/p>\n
Rosberg replied: “Lewis is just a human, with strengths and weaknesses.\u00a0 And I know what I can do.”<\/p>\n
Some predict that Hamilton’s advantage may eventually get to Rosberg, but Wolff is not so sure.<\/p>\n
“He (Rosberg) has no problem dealing with the situation,” Wolff is quoted by Speed Week.<\/p>\n
“Of course he is disappointed to finish second behind his teammate, but I have no doubt that they will both have their triumphs against one another,” he added.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Their battles may be played out on the track, but Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are also waging a war of the minds in 2014. One silver-clad driver or the other will almost certainly be crowned this year’s champion, and so far the ultra-dominant Brackley team’s management is giving them a free run to go …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[5262,5340,154,4,598,5359],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21917,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21916\/revisions\/21917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}