Hamilton and Rosberg to be told Mercedes plan

Mercedes chiefs were left furious after the pair clashed on the final lap of the Red Bull Ring race last weekend – in an incident which stewards claimed Rosberg was at fault for.

With the clash coming so soon after their Spanish Grand Prix wipeout, and first-lap contact the Canadian Grand Prix, Mercedes has been clear that it must take action to prevent a repeat.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff declared after the Austrian GP that all options would be considered – which included the possibility of team orders being introduced to prevent them battling wheel-to-wheel.

Hamilton has pleaded with his bosses not to go so far as to prevent them racing, but Wolff was insistent after Austria that a battle plan would be introduced based only on what the management thought was best.

“We will make a decision irrespective of what they say,” he said. “It's the core race team that's going to make a decision and it could go either direction. The outcome needs to be that we avoid contact between the two cars, whatever it is.

“So everything is going to be on the table. There is not going to be a holy cow. We are going to look at it.”

Team orders unlikely

Although it is understood that a solution has been found that does not involve team orders, it is unclear exactly what that is, nor what Mercedes will tell Hamilton and Rosberg during the meeting.

There are likely to be several options on the table though, which could involve strict orders about how hard they are allowed to race from now, punishments for future contact – or even a final warning that draconian measures will be taken if the situation between them does not improve.

Mercedes is expected to make a statement about what it intends to do later on Thursday, with Hamilton and Rosberg both scheduled to speak to the media ahead of the British Grand Prix.