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Wolff said he distracted chief strategist James Vowles at a crucial moment and forced Lewis Hamilton to go one lap behind what would have been the best time.
Race leader Valtteri Bottas rounded the circuit on lap 12, but instead of bringing Hamilton to the next round, the team dropped him.
Ferrari asked Sebastian Vettel to do the opposite of what Hamilton did, staying outside if the Mercedes became a pickaxe, and entering the other case.
It is at this moment that Wolff says that he was talking to Vowles about possible scenarios. As the conversation unfolded, Hamilton remained outside and Vettel entered duly.
When Hamilton scored a lap later, he emerged behind the Ferrari, even though he passed a few moments later.
Wolff admitted that Hamilton should have arrived on lap 13, before his first tires were overtaken.
"We got tangled up in the way we called the pit stops," said Wolff. "We made the right choice by calling Valtteri first, that would have protected his position, but we were a lap too late with Lewis.
"I'm going to take it on me, because I'm engaging with James [Vowles] in a conversation when he should have made the call. And that's why he arrived too late and lost his position.
"While we were thinking about what we had to do, I was in exchange with James, which made us lose a lap late.
"We hugged Valtteri and Lewis came on the radio and said it was a late lap, Seb objected and we have already committed to doing another because we had a discussion about it. "
Blistering his new pairs of tires after overtaking Vettel, Hamilton unleashed the controversy that pitted the team against controversy.
"Lewis had to fight to overtake Sebastian, which was really great, but it hurt the tires, and we were in a situation where Valtteri was in front, Lewis behind, and Sebastian on Lewis.
"And at this point, there were two possible results, the best case would have been that it stays that way and that we finish second with Lewis and win with Valtteri, the worst thing was that the blister would not last until the end and Lewis were overtaken by Sebastian to manage his tires.
"That's the reason why I think Valtteri was the call we made between the two Reasonably, it was the right choice to make, but our sports heart says no."
Wolff added that if the bulb had worsened, the consequences for Hamilton could have been even worse than just losing Vettel.
"We saw it at Spa, we had to queue again. Ferrari in Monza had a big problem and had to queue again.
"Imagine the scenario, having to go back to Lewis and finish sixth or seventh, finish sixth, rather than win the race, it's the moment of pressure where we made the call."
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1 W09, leads Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W09
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images
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