by Our Sports Desk

NICO ROSBERG admitted yesterday that he’s been keeping tight-lipped around Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton as they scrap for the Formula One title.

Marque motorsport chief Toto Wolff revealed that transparency was “suffering a little bit” following Rosberg’s win in Austria on Sunday.

He called on both of his drivers to have “a transparent and open way of working with each other” to guarantee Mercedes’ future dominance.

Rosberg said the feuding teammates share all data but that if they discover any advantage it’s kept quiet.

“It’s all open — the data, everything, is open,” he said.

“It’s just that sometimes you are not going to put it on the table, and say ‘look here at what I’ve done.’

“If I find a little bit of an advantage somewhere then I’m not going to tell everybody about it. I’ll keep it to myself.

“But in the background we’re racing for the Silver Arrows. Everything is free because the team need to be strong, and we’re strongest when we work together — and we do work together.

“But at the same time we’re fighting each other, so whenever we can have a little bit of an advantage over the other then we’ll take it.”

The German has won his last three races to extend his lead over Hamilton to 29 points.

“It’s good to know I have the momentum fully on my side, definitely good, and I need to prolong it as much as possible,” added Rosberg.

“There will inevitably come a point where Lewis will pull it towards him again, so I need to make the most of it for now.”

With the next race on Hamilton’s home tarmac at Silverstone, another Rosberg triumph on July 6 could prove thoroughly demoralising for the 29-year-old.

Playing down the significance, Rosberg said: “For me it’s a race like any other.

“It’s a home race for the team, which makes it all the more important, and I’d love to do a one-two there — and the same order as in Austria — that would be great.

“It’s the best gift we could give everybody, so we’ll try and do that, that would be awesome.

“But it wouldn’t be more special for me if I manage to beat Lewis at Silverstone. I don’t think about it that way.

“But to win at Hockenheim (the German Grand Prix that follows on July 20), now that would be amazing, just as it was when I won in Monaco — very special.”