Wolff: Hamilton's lifestyle is no problem as long as he performs

Toto Wolff has rubbished reports it could be Lewis Hamilton's off-track lifestyle that costs the triple world champion his seat at Mercedes.

The Times newspaper quoted an unnamed team principal as warning that Mercedes also has deep misgivings about Hamilton's off-track lifestyle.

"They (Mercedes officials) don't like what they are seeing at the moment," the boss, who has reportedly known Hamilton since he was a child, said. "One senior executive told me no one is irreplaceable", the unnamed chief added.

Wolff, however, scoffed at the suggestion that Hamilton's extravagance, constant continent-hopping and increasingly 'rapper'-like lifestyle will be the trigger for the Briton's exit.

"We tend to put people in a box and you try to imagine how a perfect racing driver should be, how they should be in bed at 10 o'clock and not partying or flying around," he told the Times. "As long as he performs in the car, there is not a problem."

However the Mercedes team boss warned after the Abu Dhabi finale recently that the constant bickering and ill-feeling between Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg either stops or the team will have to rethink its driver lineup.

Wolff reiterated his stand-point to Sky, "If it were to become detrimental to the team that would mean that we would not maintain the long-term set-up in the team with the drivers."

"It's very important to keep the spirit within the team, and the competition between Nico and Lewis has been very fierce, very competitive at times. It's understandable because they are fighting in a car that is capable of winning the championship against each other," added Wolff.

Hamilton wrapped up the 2015 F1 world title with three races to spare, but since then he has failed to win a race while Rosberg has bagged three in a row which has only served to further fuel the animosity that prevails between the pair.