“Maybe we need to make a brave decision in the same way Nico has made a brave decision.Plans to develop Yas Island were announced in 2006, in an attempt to make the location a tourist destination, and this included a particular focus placed on creating a race track. “Clearly, with Nico taking the decision quite late we are in a bit of a compromised situation because if we had known three months ago there were more options available,” Wolff added. Though he spent 2016 racing for Manor, the 22-year-old has filled in for Rosberg and Hamilton in testing and has been identified by Mercedes as a driver with vast potential. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas is a reported contender for Rosberg’s seat, but Wolff may decide to take a punt on the former Mercedes test driver Pascal Wehrlein. With all the established F1 drivers safely under contract, Mercedes may well have to take a calculated gamble after Rosberg’s shock retirement.

Briatore told Gazetta dello Sport: “We have an agreement with McLaren and we are going to respect that.” Wolff said this week Mercedes “had to consider” Alonso as a replacement for the German but the two-times world champion is contracted to McLaren until the end of 2017. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso will not be replacing Rosberg at Mercedes, the Spaniard’s manager Flavio Briatore has confirmed. Anarchy does not work in any team and in any company.” Immediately after the race at the Yas Marina Circuit, Wolff said: “Undermining a structure in public means you are putting yourself before the team. “How the race panned out, we should have communicated differently and in hindsight let them race in the way they deemed to be appropriate.” “In our mind, the way we think, this race was giving us the same number of points as other races and we try to win that one – not considering that there was much more at stake for the drivers.

“In the heat of the moment, sometimes when you make decisions, you get them wrong,” Wolff told Sky Sports.

However, Mercedes’ head of motorsport Toto Wolff has confirmed there will be no punishment for Hamilton as he focuses his attention on replacing the now-retired Rosberg.

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