Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes Formula 1 team are “a million times closer” than they were 12 months ago after clea✅ring the air following his bitter riඣvalry with Nico Rosberg, according to squad chief Toto Wolff.

Much of the tension that brewed at Mercedes was defused when Rosberg announced his shock ret♚irement after beating Hamilton to the🔯 F1 title at the end of last year, leaving the team to make way for Valtteri Bottas’ arrival.

Hamilton and Wolff held a now-famous ‘kitchen meeting’ to clear the air and discuss matters, laying the foundations for the Briton's succ🅘essful charge to his fourth F1 world title in 2017.

“Every driver has the right to be upset when you lose a championship. You could not expect him to be all cheery when his teammate haꦉs just walked away with the title!" .

“Another factor, of course, was th🐈at the relationship between the two was not great. Frustration had built up over the season on Lewis’s side, but not on the team side. Some o🍷f it was for very right reasons, but there are always two perspectives.

“Where it all changed for꧟ me was that meeting in the winter. It 🔯was not an easy discussion, but since then we’ve grown stronger together.

“And no doubt it is a perfect match: we provide the best car on the grid and he provides the strongest driving. 🐼So yes, it worওks for both of us.”

Asked if Hamilton and Mercedes were closer than before, Wolff said: “A mꩵillion times closer.

“Sometimes all it takes is to agree that you disagree. And then move on. In any functioning relationship of min꧙e it is never plain sailing.

“You grow in difficult moments, and that goes for h💦im and m🏅yself.”