Mercedes to keep ’driver rules’ in 2017

Mercedes will continue to have written ’rules of engagement’ for the battle between its F1 drivers.

In recent years, the acrimony between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg meant that detailed guidelines about their on-track battles was enshrined in what became known in the paddock as ’the bible’.

But even with retiring Rosberg’s replacement by Finn Valtteri Bottas, it has emerged that those rules will continue to apply.

"We have an internal paper that has grown with our experience over the years," team boss Toto Wolff told the German broadcaster RTL.

And he is also quoted by London’s Times newspaper: "We are maybe going to call it differently and trim it a little bit, add the bits that were missing, but not make it a complex regulation.

"We have to see how the season gets started," Wolff added. "It might be completely different in terms of the dynamics between the drivers and the dynamic with other teams. But the basic concept stays."