Mercedes boss Wolff calls McLaren intra-team battle 'tricky' as he compares it to Rosberg vs Hamilton

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff has offered his opinion on McLaren's intra-team battle, suggesting that "it's certainly a tricky situation" to manage having dealt with a similar problem between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris came to blows during the closing stages of the Canadian Grand Prix as they battled over fourth position, which left the latter in the wall.

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella stated that the incident was “not acceptable”, while Norris accepted blame for the collision after he "misjudged it", which also earned him a five-second penalty.

The incident on the start/finish straight in Montreal was the first time this season that the pair, who occupy first and second in the Drivers' Championship, have come to blows out on track in their battle for the title.

Wolff was asked his opinion on the situation after the race, having had to deal with Hamilton and Rosberg colliding together on numerous occasions over a four-year spell as team mates that led to a breakdown in their relationship.

"If I go back to 2016 with Nico and Lewis, you've got two drivers only in the fight for the championship, inevitably they came together. You've got the same scenario now at McLaren, they're a one horse race it seems," said Wolff.

"How difficult is it to manage? It's all very well Zak [Brown] saying that he's anticipating it, but how do you manage that scenario between two drivers?

"Well, I've seen the [F1] movie, and I was right in there as an actor, as a cast," Wolff joked, referring to the upcoming Joseph Kosinski-directed film which features a fractious intra-team battle at the fictional APXGP squad.

“It's difficult, because it's what drivers are calibrated to and conditioned to all their life, win championships and particularly when you come into Formula 1. And I think the trick is here to establish the rules, establish how do we want to go about it."

Piastri finds himself 22 points ahead of Norris in the Drivers' Championship, with the pair having generally dominated the season so far, taking seven of the 10 wins between themselves.

McLaren also leads the Constructors' Championship by 175 points from Mercedes, with Wolff suggesting the large gap adds further problems when it comes to rules of engagement.

"It obviously increases the complexity if the Constructors’ Championship is in your hands too," added Wolff.

"You could always argue, well, you know, we need to win the Constructors’ Championship, we need to score these points. But in that case, they are so far ahead that it's not even a question whether they will win that.

"So, it's certainly a tricky situation. The characters are very different than they were with us. And it's about, you know, strong management to learn that."