Mercedes call for no team orders
Mercedes have backed up Audi's hopes for a fair fight in the DTM finale this weekend, but they added that they hope team orders will not decide the drivers' championship
The battle between the two manufacturers exploded in controversial fashion at the last race at Barcelona, where Audi withdrew their cars following several on-track collisions.
While Mercedes agree with the recent comments from Audi's team personnel and drivers regarding a fair fight in the title decider at Hockenheim this weekend, the company's motorsport boss Norbert Haug is keen to avoid a repeat of the team orders employed by Audi at Zandvoort.
At the end of the Dutch race, Alexandre Premat and Timo Scheider slowed coming out of the final corners to allow Martin Tomczyk and Mattias Ekstrom through into first and third places respectively.
"The faster and better one should win the race and the title in Hockenheim," said Haug. "On the track alone and without team orders.
"However, it is even more important for us, that everybody in the finale keeps calm, and that the pressure to be anxious to win does not get out of hand.
"All spectators and all participants deserve a hard but fair finale. If we could clinch our 10th title at Hockenheim, it would be a nice reward for all our team members after such a tough, eventful and particularly busy season."
After the race at Barcelona, where Jamie Green won ahead of title contender Bruno Spengler, Haug pointed out that Mercedes had no interest in swapping positions before the end of the race.
"Bruno deserves the title, he has scored more points than anyone since the third race of the season," Haug told autosport.com. "We could have swapped places with Jamie, then Bruno would be leading the championship. But we did not do this."
Spengler, who had not scored a point after the first two races of the year, goes into this weekend just two points behind Mattias Ekstrom, while Ekstrom's Audi teammate Martin Tomczyk is only four behind the Swede.
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