Wolff: ‘I’d rather be the baddie than the idiot’

Mercedes Formula 1 chief Toto Wolff says he would rather feel like the “baddie” for using team orders in Russia than like an “idiot” at the end of the season if not doing proved costly in the championship race.

Wolff took responsibility for telling Valtteri Bottas to give up a position to teammate Lewis Hamilton in Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix, allowing the Briton to take the race win and extend his lead over Sebastian Vettel in the drivers’ championship to 50 points.

The move proved controversial as it saw Bottas’ winless streak in 2018 continue, while Hamilton also felt uncomfortable about the fashion of his win despite taking a big stride towards a fifth world title.

“Somebody needs to be the baddie sometimes, and it’s me today,” Wolff said after the race, having taken full responsibility for the call.

“You need to weigh it up. What do I opt for, to be the baddie on Sunday evening, or do I want to be the idiot in Abu Dhabi at the end of the season?

“I’d rather be the baddie today than the idiot at the end of the year.”

While Hamilton’s lead would still have stood at 43 points had he finished second behind Bottas with Vettel third, Wolff said he feared the impact of a possible DNF in the coming races could have on the title race, prompting him to seek a bigger buffer.

“You’ve seen in Austria, we led one and two, the constructors’ championship it would have meant 43 points more, and we ended up with zero,” Wolff said.

“So you go to Suzuka, you go to Austin, you have a disastrous weekend, and the gap rather than being 25 points in the drivers’ championship, because we just scored zero and Sebastian won, it’s seven less, it’s 18, with four races to go. That becomes a completely different situation.

“It’s tough. Maybe we are playing too safe. But I’ve seen freak results in motorsport like you’ve seen, things that have been overturned victory. This season you have seen it, the Ferrari being the dominant car for two or three races, and then it’s us again.

“So you cannot take today’s performance and yesterday’s performance, you cannot take it for granted.

“You cannot say this is what we expected to do until the end of the season.”