YAS MARINA, Abu Dhabi -- Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has reiterated that there was not an ulterior motive to mixing the mechanic crews of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at the start of the season.
Mercedes made a decision over the winter to swap five mechanics from Hamilton's side of the garage for five on Rosberg's in order to prevent the two sides of the garage becoming divided and to develop the individuals involved. The decision came under intense scrutiny from fans on social media earlier in the season when Hamilton suffered two MGU-H issues in quick succession, but neither was traced to the mechanics or the swap.
The decision became a talking point once more ahead of this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix when Hamilton offered a cryptic response to a question raised by a journalist on the subject on Thursday.
"You'll have to buy my book down the line in ten years' time when I tell you exactly what happened," Hamilton said. "It will be an interested read."
The response posed more questions than answers, so it was put to Wolff on Friday that perhaps there was something more to the decision that had upset Hamilton. The Mercedes boss reacted by explaining that the mechanic swap had been for the benefit of the whole team and not just one of its drivers.
"It is clear that if you change a crew that is directly involved with a driver, such as mechanics or a number one [mechanic] that a driver constantly looks at when he's pulling out of the garage, it can have a psychological effect and we acknowledged that and it was part of our thinking when we shuffled it around," He said. "But as a matter of fact we are 1,500 people in Brixworth and Brackley and it's about developing personnel.
"Somebody who was working on one corner of the car today as a mechanic might be a number one next year, might be a chief mechanic afterwards and maybe has even more potential within the organisation. In a similar way we have done all through the organisation we are not keeping it static. It's a dynamic structure and the same happens in the garage.
"This is a fact. I appreciate the effect on the singular driver and it was taken into consideration and maybe I'll write a book in 10 years and we'll put some things in there."
When Wolff was asked why he would make a change that had the potential to impact Hamilton in a negative way, he reiterated that the needs of the team would always come first. "It's very important. It is, in terms of keeping the performance up in the team, you need to consider what your high-performance [personnel] need; what kind of environment they need, what kind of framework they need in order to perform best. And we've considered that. And there is not just one position like the chief mechanic that is important for the performance of the team and the drivers but we have to take decisions for many, many hundreds of people and develop them.
"It is our duty and obligation towards these 1500 people and the great brand to take the right decisions and not one single individual -- although taking into mind what is important for the driver itself. What you are seeing here on the race track is the tip of the iceberg. And by the sheer nature there is a large block underneath that brings performance and has brought the team to where we are today. And part of that is to have the most effective organisation. Not only today but also tomorrow -- and that is just part of the normal procedure."