Starts have played a huge role in the World Championship battle this year, with both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg suffering at different times.
“The purpose of the regulation change was to make the starts more variable and give the drivers more responsibility,” said Wolff.
“To be fair, it’s one of the areas we need to progress for next year. It’s quite difficult for the driver to get it right. So that is an area where we just need to get on top of the issues. And it’s still a risk, yes.”
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“It’s more visible for us when you are at the front of the grid, when you screw it up, everybody sees that.
"There is a real performance, and a perceived performance, and we have actually data for both, because you will have that perceived reliability and perceived performance which is actually different to the real sporting reliability and mechanical reliability.
"People will say that your pitstops are not very good, or you seem to be having more technical issues than anybody else. But that is two totally different datasets.
“I think it looks worse than it. We have seen massive oscillations with some of our competitors, good starts, bad starts.
"But it is a very complex area, the interaction between the clutch, the clutch material, the architecture of the clutch, the handling for the driver, torque delivery, bite point, etc.
"I still believe it’s an area where we have room for improvement, and all the engineers know it.”
Wolff expects the Malaysian race to be close, and hinted that reliability could play a role. “I think it’s open, because the pace on the long runs was not as different.
"We know with the current generation of cars and the heat tomorrow it’s going to be an exercise in how you make the car, its systems, the tyres, the engine and everything survive best.
"I don’t think it will be flat out for one and a half hours. Anything is possible. Obviously the start plays a big role.”
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