Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff admits to feeling “schizophrenic” over Lewis Hamilton’s tactics of holding title rival Nico Rosberg up in the final laps of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Briton was trailing his team-mate by 12 points entering the season-ending race so needed to put several cars between him and Rosberg to boost his chances of a fourth crown.
Despite repeated calls from Mercedes to pick up the pace, including one from executive director Paddy Lowe, Hamilton ignored the orders and tried to back up Rosberg into the cars behind, including a charging Sebastian Vettel on fresher tyres.
“I’m in a bit of schizophrenic situation,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1 afterwards. “There is the control freak team leader that says there is a rule book and everybody has to obey because that’s what has made us what we are today.
“But then there is the racer in me and I questioned myself ‘what would I have done’. [Hamilton] had two choices. One was to disappear in the distance and show that he is the best racing driver and the second one was to back up and that’s what he decided to do.”
When asked why Mercedes felt the need to have a say in the championship battle, Wolff added: “We could let them off the leash and have no rules but the consequence is that we would be winning less races and we would be losing championships.
“And there is one philosophy that we’ve had all season is that we would not interfere as long as we can guarantee a race win and we had a situation here where we could lose the race win.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner first suggested the idea of Hamilton backing up Rosberg earlier this week.
“Christian [Horner] had the same idea before the weekend so he followed Christian’s instructions. Maybe he wants to drive for him,” Wolff also said, half-jokingly.
REPORT: Hamilton wins, as Rosberg takes title in Abu Dhabi
Jenson Button's F1 career: 17 seasons, 15 wins
Silbermann says ... Parting gifts galore
Chris Medland's 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix preview
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
One driver has a hugely famous name, the other is a special Grand Prix winner,…
As the Ferrari factory in Maranello glows in festive crimson, a sense of anticipation hums…
Lando Norris had just done the hardest thing in motorsport – winning the Formula 1…
A veteran of 41 Grands Prix starts, Howden Ganley - seen here above hitting a…
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc may not have ended the season with a silver trophy in hand,…
Max Verstappen’s timing out on the race track is surgical, but when it comes to…