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Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff believes fans are wrong to boo drivers on the podium, after Nico Rosberg was subjected to more jeers following the Italian Grand Prix.

The F1 world championship leader was booed at the end of the Spa race for causing a collision with team-mate Lewis Hamilton, and he received a similar reaction from a portion of the Monza crowd on Sunday.

"There should not be any booing on the podium," Wolff said.

"It is the top three guys who have had a mega race and whoever it is they shouldn't be doing it.

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"It is sport and sport should unite. But all those guys have fans; some of them are pretty emotional."

Wolff admitted that getting such a reaction from fans could have an effect on any driver.

"Does that take a toll on you? Yes. So I think you have to be pretty tough," he said.

"I don't want to even think about being booed - but maybe it is something you need to survive if you want to take it to the top."

FAITH IN ROSBERG'S MENTAL STRENGTH

Wolff added that he believes Rosberg has the mental strength to recover from the Italian GP weekend, where he struggled to match Hamilton's pace and made an error at the first chicane that handed the lead to the Briton.

"I think mentally he is very strong and if you want to be a world champion you have to go through lows and highs," said Wolff.

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"Lewis had many of them and he came back and we have seen Nico after Silverstone come back.

"You need extreme mental strength to make it to the end and win the championship.

"Both of them have it in them to bounce back after weekends. Before the incident at Spa it had been going back and forth.

"One had a good weekend and the other one not, you could see none of them really had a low afterwards."

Hamilton's victory on Sunday cut Rosberg's championship lead to 22 points with six rounds remaining.