Mercedes is facing their first season in more than a decade without a win. Their W14 is inconsistent and simply not up to the task of taking on the Red Bulls having managed two P2 results as their very best. Despite that, team principal Toto Wolff doesn’t want to see the regulations changed to hamper Red Bull’s dominance arguing that F1 is a “meritocracy” not “scripted content.”

“As a team principal, I don’t want to jump on the bandwagon that others have done in the past of saying we need to change the regulations because we can’t continue with the dominance of a team,” Wolff told the media.

“If a team dominates in the way Max has done with Red Bull than fair dues, this is a meritocracy.

“As long as you comply with the regulations; technical, sporting, and financial, you just need to say well done and it’s up to us to catch up. If that takes a long time then it takes a long time.

“I remember people crying foul when it was us. Entertainment follows sport and not the other way around. We can’t be WWE, with scripted content. We don’t want to be scripted content.”

Despite going through a rough patch, Mercedes don’t want to beat Red Bull by breaking the rules, they will do it the proper way.

“I would give up a championship before I break the rules in an intentional way because reputation and integrity are all today,” Wolff added.

“I don’t want to be judged by a championship or two. I want the team to be judged after 20 years for whether we’ve done more things right or wrong, loyalty, we’ve not lost many people.”

Mercedes are second in the Contructors’ Championship on 273 points, 310 point behind Red Bull, but 45 ahead of Ferrari.