Mercedes chief Toto Wolff admits Ferrari have made Formula One exciting again… but he feels like punching their boss
Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg won three consecutive world titles but Sebastian Vettel is making his move this season
TOTO WOLFF admits Ferrari's resurrection has left him wanting to punch his rival boss, Maurizio Arrivabene.
Wolff, who is Head of Motorsport at Mercedes, says the Italian team's revival has breathed new life into F1 after it grew "boring" as his team dominated.
Lewis Hamilton and his former Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg won three consecutive world titles.
However, they currently sit behind Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the championship, with Ferrari boss Arrivabene seeing the German win three races this season.
Wolff said: "We had this internal rivalry between Nico and Lewis all those years, but this was getting boring because it was predictable.
"Now we have against all odds, Ferrari coming out of the winter with a fantastic car. Sebastian is very energised and motivated and we have a fight on our hands now.
"Things happen for a reason, we enjoy it. It reminded me why I love Formula One and why I love the competition, it's not easy and you don't know who is going to win.
"It's going to be them one time, it's going to be us one time and it's all happening in a very sportsmanship way.
"We have strong rivals on track, I wouldn't want to give them one inch but off track there is a respect for each another and for the individuals.
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"You know, during the race I would like to punch Maurizio! But afterwards I can recognise that they have done a good job and I respect Ferrari and the passion in Italy.
"You can still hate losing and you know there is this saying, 'show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser'.
"It's still painful and it hurts, but keep it within yourself. You can still respect someone else's job if he's done it well."
Wolff is convinced that he has the best driver in F1 in his team in Hamilton, not only for his marketability.
And the Austrian says the three-time world champion is flourishing in the team alongside his new team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Wolff admits the team were harmed by Hamilton and Rosberg's intense relationship that boiled over on many occasions, particularly in the 2014 season.
He added: "Lewis is very important for the sport because he is probably the only superstar that reaches a public beyond Formula One fans.
"It's not the reason he is with us, his brand value is interesting and gives Mercedes an edge, but the simple reason why he is with us is because he is the best driver of modern F1.
"On a difficult day, I wouldn't want anyone else in the car. He can pull it out. This is just an exceptional skill that he has.
"The dynamics in the team have now changed. Nico was a very important part of the team, but with Valtteri coming in, almost the pressure fell off from the relationship between the drivers.
"Barcelona was actually the first time where things started to become a little more difficult and then it grew and it ended up in the collision in Spa 2014.
"That is when I decided to step in hard and try to stop it. It was the point where I'd had enough.
"I felt like the work of many people was being not respected in the right way and I felt that the rivalry between two drivers was starting to damage the brand.
"We had some pretty intense meetings back then and I think after then we had about a dozen races without any contact, so the message was received."
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton struggled for pace around the Baku circuit during the opening two practice sessions.
The Brit was only fifth quickest in the morning session and was further off the pace down in 10th in the second session.
Hamilton also found it difficult in Azerbaijan last season, qualifying down in tenth before fighting back in the race to come home in fifth.
Mercedes boss Wolff said: ";You need to get into a rhythm and we had a messy session and we did not get Lewis out at the right time. The track was also lacking grip, because it is a street circuit.
"This time around in Baku it seems as though three or four teams are competitive, so qualifying is going to be important."
Both FP1 and FP2 were topped by Red Bull's Max Verstappen in an incident-packed day as drivers struggled for grip around the Baku circuit.
Under-pressure Brit, Jolyon Palmer, and Force India's Sergio Perez both suffered crashes while Fernando Alonso had another mechanical problem with his McLaren.
CHANNEL 4, the home of free-to-air Formula 1 with live coverage of ten Grand Prix this season and comprehensive highlights of every race.
To watch the full interview 'F1 Meets... Toto Wolff' tune into C4 12:25 on Saturday 24th June