Ferrari’s technical partnership with Haas came under close scrutiny last season and led to Mercedes seeking clarification from the FIA, which ultimately ruled there had been no wrongdoing but moved to close off a loophole allowing the relationship.

With Mercedes supplying Manor with power units this season and Pascal Wehrlein securing one of the race seats, when asked if Manor could become Mercedes’ B-team, Wolff toldAuto Motor und Sport: “We must keep open all possibilities.

“If it is within the rules that you can bring performance through cooperation between two teams, then you have to explore it. I am not entirely convinced whether it is the right direction for Formula 1, when the big racing teams use B-teams to try certain development directions.

“We have a big rule change before us in 2017, so it could be worth its weight in gold. The collaboration with another team could spare each of you a failure. But as I said I do not think the philosophy is right.”

However, when asked if Manor is already the Mercedes B-team, Wolff replied: “No, but besides Pascal Wehrlein they also use one of our wind tunnels.”