Nico Rosberg believes Toto Wolff is ‘annoyed’ with Lewis Hamilton after Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

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Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was annoyed at Lewis Hamilton during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend, according to former driver Nico Rosberg.

Wolff and Hamilton were seen in a heated discussion on Friday after the seven-time champion only narrowly made it through Q1 before managing just 13th place on the grid in Q2.

He would then go on to finish 14th in the sprint race and 13th in the Emilia Romagna GP on Sunday, before Wolff dismissed speculation about a rift between him and the seven-time champion.

But Rosberg, who worked with Hamilton and Wolff for several years at Mercedes, feels there is more to it than the Austrian let on.

Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: “If I have to speculate now, it looked to me that Toto was annoyed about something Lewis had done, which might be understandable.

“Lewis could have been very frustrated on the internal Mercedes garage radio or something, complaining to them that they didn’t follow his thoughts on what they should have done with strategy or complaining about the car or something.

“Lewis also got out of the car before [Q2] was over and there might be still a one per cent chance the track could be in a good shape towards the end of qualifying. Maybe Toto was angry about that.

“It just shows the stress is starting to get to them within there, because rather than going forward at the moment they are actually going backwards. I mean, they were almost two seconds a lap slower yesterday in qualifying – their worst qualifying in 10 years – so naturally… the tension is going to build internally.”

Hamilton’s teammate George Russell managed an impressive fourth place on Sunday as the 24-year-old extended his lead in the drivers’ championship to 21 points over his fellow Mercedes racer.

Next up for the paddock is a trip to America for the Miami Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.