Mercedes Motorsport boss Toto Wolff admits he felt sympathy for Ferrari after both their cars were eliminated in a crash at the start of the Singapore Grand Prix.
Teammates colliding became a little too common for the Austrian during the Lewis Hamilton/ Nico Rosberg rivalry of the past three years, the most reminiscent example coming in Spain last year when both slid out on Lap 1.
The impact, however, was massive as the Brackley team, who struggled to match the Scuderia and Red Bull all weekend on arguably their weakest track, suddenly took a major step towards defending both their championships.
“In the morning we were talking about damage limitation, and we go our away from Singapore with a P1 and P3. So, from our perspective it’s a great result,” Wolff commented. “But once that’s happened you can kind of feel for Ferrari. I’ve been in the situation of losing both cars, and you can relate how awful that thing could be.
“But then, I guess we’re not here to make prisoners. So from the moment on it was clear we were in the lead with Lewis, it was about delivering the best result possible for the race.”
Now with Mercedes holding a 102-point advantage in the Constructors’ standings and Lewis Hamilton having the largest lead seen in the Drivers’ Championship this season, Toto revealed the team’s mindset going forward after an encounter with a former rival turned colleague.
“I checked in with James [Allison] 10 minutes’ ago. He said: ’28 points’, I said ‘yeah, but we mustn’t drop the ball’,” he claimed. “Clearly you wouldn’t feel comfortable in Ferrari’s shoes having a 28-point deficit.
“So whatever the perspective is, from my opinion, and this is how we’ve done it in the last years, we just need to do continue and get on with the job. There is lots of time for cheering when we’ve actually done it.”
Something else Wolff remains hesitant to do is fully back Hamilton in his bid for a fourth world title and third in four seasons by introducing team orders.
“I think that it’s pretty obvious that his chance of winning the drivers’ championship is higher than Valtteri’s,” he commented. “So like we’ve done in the past we will look at the preceding race and assess it, then the decision becomes obvious.
“I wouldn’t want to give a straight commitment and say he’s our number one because I don’t want to screw up the mind of our second driver because if he’s up in the front, and he’s leading the race… That’s why I don’t want to call it.”
