With McLaren looking likely to go ahead with its appeal against the ruling on Racing Point, some have speculated whether the Woking team's stance might jeopardise its relationship with Mercedes, whose engines it will be using from next season.

Other than Renault, McLaren has been among the most vocal on the issue, with team boss, Andreas Seidl, expressing fears that the wrong outcome could lead to the sport becoming a "copying championship".

However, as the row escalates, with Lawrence Stroll making a rare public statement, accusing those teams appealing the ruling of dragging his team's name "through the blood" and warning of possible repercussions, at a time Toto Wolff is giving full support to the Canadian team, almost to the extent of "if you think you're hard enough...", Seidl is confident that the row will not impact the relationship between McLaren and its 'new' partner.

"There is absolutely no bad blood between us and Mercedes," said the German. "We have a great relationship with Toto, with Mercedes, with the guys from Brixworth preparing for next year.

"In the end, the case which is on at the minute, is with Racing Point and not Mercedes," he added.

Asked about Stroll's statement, he said: "I don't want to comment on any of these comments. We are part of a legal process. I don't want to comment further on it.

"At the same time, it's important to not waste too much energy on the entire case," he continued. "We know what we have to do on the McLaren side to be more competitive, and that is my main focus, together with the team."