Mercedes team orders would be bad for F1

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said after the Austrian Grand Prix that Mercedes is looking at all options – including team orders – in a bid to work out how it can prevent its drivers from clashing again on track.

But such a move would be disappointing for the sport, reckons Red Bull chief Christian Horner, who believes that Mercedes has a duty with its current performance advantage to let its men race.

"I think they have got a sufficient margin over the rest of the field, why do they need to consider that?" said Horner, when asked by Motorsport.com about his views on the situation.

"I think it actually creates interest in Formula 1. It is good for F1 to have two teammates that may not be the best of mates."

Men at war

Horner is well aware of the troubles that can pop up when two fiercely competitive men battle for the title, as he experienced when Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were in the same team.

"Of course it is enormously difficult, because no much how much those guys say they are team players, they are contractors and they are racing for themselves at the end of the day," he said.

"They are going for the biggest prize in motorsport. Inevitably they will do what is right for them at the end of the day."

Untenable situation

But Horner goes as far as suggesting that the scale of the situation between Hamilton and Rosberg means that questions must be asked about if the pair can continue working together.

"For Mercedes longer term, how tenable is it for that pairing to continue as a team?" he said.

"While they are in the situation they are in, with the competitiveness they have and the closeness of performance, these issues are not going to be isolated to this race.

"But it is an attractive element of the sport. When you have got a dominant car, it is great to see the guys going head to head."