Can Mercedes handle driver rivalry?

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has clearly spent his Christmas break pondering how to handle the rivalry between his drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, in 2016.

The tensions between the two were largely buried through last year as Hamilton cruised to the title, but they re-emerged in the final six races as Rosberg finally found his form.

This may well have been caused by Hamilton easing off having tied up the title with three races to go. But if the German can continue the performances that led to a run of six poles and three wins with which he ended the season, the fight could be much closer in 2016.

The likelihood of Mercedes remaining the team to beat has left Wolff pondering his duty to the wider sport and he has raised the possibility of letting the drivers race more freely in 2016.

"I want the dominance to continue but if it were to continue like this I need to think what we do so we do not become the enemy," Wolff told the Mail on Sunday in an interview over the Christmas period.

"Maybe it's about unleashing them completely. Give them their own strategy."

Hamilton and Rosberg have been allowed to compete on track for the last two years, but within specific guidelines operated by the team.

Key among these has been that the lead driver always gets first choice on pit-stop timing.

This is to prevent the driver behind gaining what has been deemed an unfair advantage by stopping first and using the extra grip of new tyres to take the lead.

But it reduces the possibility of the two swapping positions and restricts racing to on the track, where passing is difficult between two evenly matched cars.

Wolff's suggestion - which is only an idea for now - would undoubtedly make life more entertaining for those watching. But it would effectively force the two drivers' engineering teams to work in opposition to each other.

And it would increase the risk of one of the drivers being beaten by a rival from another team as it could risk them ending up on an unfavourable strategy.

The background to this is that Wolff has said he will consider changing his driver line-up if the disharmony between the drivers starts to affect the team. And that remark is made in the context of Rosberg's contract being up for renewal at the end of the season.