Toto Wolff believes promoting Pascal Wehrlein to Mercedes this season could have put the German at risk of damaging his long-term Formula One career.
Although the Mercedes junior was initially tipped as favourite to replace the retirement-bound Nico Rosberg, the Brackley-based team opted to replace the world champion with Williams' Valtteri Bottas. The decision drew criticism towards Mercedes for overlooking its young driver, who signed a deal to race with Sauber for 2017 earlier this month.
Wolff defended the move and says he wanted to avoid a situation that might have been detrimental to Wehrlein's future in the sport.
"He is fast and brilliant and he was always considered," Wolff said. "But he is in his development phase. He must be able to make mistakes and learn. And he could not have done that with us.
"Look at Sergio Perez, Heikki Kovalainen or Kevin Magnussen. They arrived too early at McLaren and were not well enough prepared."
When pressed about Red Bull's bold decision to promote Max Verstappen to the senior team at just 18 years of age, Wolff refuted the comparison, arguing Verstappen was also allowed a period of development at Toro Rosso.
"We must not forget that even Max had his development phase. Red Bull prepared him perfectly, first with drives on Friday morning, then doing a season and a half at Toro Rosso. And even when he arrived at Red Bull, he did not have to fight for the World title or compete with a driver like Lewis Hamilton.
"He one won race versus nineteen for us, and was not always at the front. And he made mistakes, as in Monaco or Austin, which a young driver must be allowed to do. Because there are no second chances."