Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff says he is worried about the “nightmare” of a technical issue robbing Lewis Hamilton of the 2014 world championship in Abu Dhabi.

Hamilton leads team-mate Nico Rosberg by 17 points, with 50 available in Abu Dhabi thanks to the controversial double points format in the final race. Mercedes has not been bulletproof this season despite its dominance and Wolff is concerned by the prospect of unreliability being an issue this weekend.

“Clearly Lewis breaking down would be a nightmare,” said Wolff. “We want the championship to end in a straight and fair battle and not by one of them breaking down. If there was a DNF, a technical issue, it would put a big shadow over the championship. I want to see a straight fight between the two of them at the last race.”

Despite being opposed to double points, Wolff does not think history will remember the controversial format even if it has an impact on deciding who wins the title.

“You can say ‘the rules are the rules’ and we know what the rules are. If you lose because you haven’t got enough points it goes into the history points that you either won it or lost it. The rules are how they are and whoever scores the most points will be the world champion.

“You have to be pragmatic. Even though some of us might have a different feeling about it if it comes down to that situation, it is what it is. Whoever wins the championship will have his name in the record books and that’s it.”

Wolff says he does not care which of his drivers wins the title if they do so in a straight fight.

“I care about both of them in an equal way. They are both great for our brand because they are different personalities and great racing drivers so it doesn’t matter who becomes world champion [to Mercedes].”
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