MEXICO CITY, Mexico -- Toto Wolff says Mercedes has a responsibility not to let team strategy calls influence the title battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg as the team chases victory at Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix.
The two Mercedes drivers will start on the front row of the grid on soft tyres but are likely to come under attack from the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, which are both starting on the faster super-soft tyre and have showed impressive pace this weekend. Hamilton and Rosberg are likely to attempt one-stop strategies based on their decision to start on softs, while Verstappen and Ricciardo could go for an aggressive two-stop to put pressure on the two title protagonists.
Wolff admitted the Mercedes pit wall could face a tough balance between wanting to beat Red Bull on Sunday and providing Hamilton and Rosberg an even strategic playing field to do battle on.
"Yes we have quite a big responsibility towards the two," he said. "We want to win the race but sending them on two different strategies and not knowing which one is the right one can potentially have an outcome which needs an explanation.
"We've had this in the past years that we will ask questions 'why did you send Driver B on that strategy but it was clear that was the better one'. If we split the strategies it will be to win, and because we simply don't want to know which one is the better one. So to answer your question, there is responsibility and weight on our shoulders in trying to get it right and as balanced as possible."
Despite the tyres performing in an unpredictable manner so far this weekend, Wolff has confidence in Mercedes strategists, who have rarely made a mistake this year.
"We've seen situations where we've not been completely clear which tyre is going to last, how graining or blistering is going to happen and when and how much the tyres need management to take them further.
"We have had that all through the season and the same is tomorrow, the track temperatures have a big influence on the performance and behaviour of the tyre so that is pretty much one of the major variables of the race which you need to get right. It includes a lot of data, algorithms and common sense. We've been ok so far with getting it right often, but there is no guarantee that it will be like this ever."