Mercedes will ease the rules of engagement between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg for their 2016 battle.
Team boss Toto Wolff ended last season with a warning that more bad feeling between the warring teammates could prompt a change to the driver lineup.
The tension between the silver-clad drivers was obvious during Friday's pre-season event in Stuttgart, with Hamilton at one point saying that his 31 years are catching up with him as driving is "physically harder and harder".
"Physically harder and harder?" a perplexed Rosberg chimed in.
However, with Ferrari now pressing hard, Wolff said at a pre-season event in Stuttgart on Friday that Hamilton and Rosberg will actually be given more freedom to push the boundaries of their fight in 2016.
"We have actually reduced [the rules of engagement] from last year to this year," the Austrian revealed.
"We owe it to them and we owe it to F1 to just let them race. We are reducing the rules because we are more comfortable in working with each other."
The first grand prix of the year takes place in Melbourne next weekend.
