Toto Wolff has vowed to keep "behind closed doors" any spat with Ferrari over engine rules.
We reported at the weekend that Ferrari is angry after Mercedes broke a ’gentleman’s agreement’.
The saga surrounds the ’oil in fuel’ controversy, with Mercedes launching a new engine specification at Spa despite promising it would wait for the debut of harsher rules that will be introduced this weekend at Monza.
"On the track we are fiercely competitive," Mercedes chief Wolff said when asked about the apparent spat.
"But if there are any problems off the track, we discuss them behind closed doors. It’s important to be cautious rather than making public anything that could be misinterpreted," he added.