Mercedes boss Toto Wolff insists the team still believes in giving its drivers "equal opportunity" to race in 2017, though he admits it will have to consider team orders on a race-by-race basis now Ferrari is in the title fight.
In Bahrain Mercedes twice asked the struggling Valtteri Bottas to move aside to let Lewis Hamilton through, with the three-time world champion on an alternate strategy. Hamilton came 6s short of challenging Sebastian Vettel for the win while Bottas -- whose race was compromised by a tyre pressure issue at the start -- faded in the closing stages and had to settle for third.