As the row over the legality of his (and Red Bull's) engine continues, Toto Wolff urges rivals to get their s**t together.

Ironically, had he not been sacked last summer, this is one instance where Wollf and Christian Horner would have been singing from the same hymn sheet.

The manufacturers met with the FIA ahead of last week's shakedown and with nothing agreed it is feared that the season opener could well be marred by protests.

However, seemingly taking a leaf out of Horner's book, the Austrian, coming off the back of a very successful debut for his team's 2026 package, has called on rivals to fix their own f*****g problems.

"When it comes to the engine question, I just don't understand that some teams concentrate more on the others and keep arguing a case that is very clear and transparent," said the Mercedes boss.

"Communication with the FIA was very positive all along," he continued, "and it's not only on compression ratio, but on other things too.

"Specifically in that area, it's very clear what the regulations say, it's very clear what the, let's say, standard procedures are on any motors, even outside of Formula 1," he added. "So just get your s**t together.

"You know, just doing secret meetings and sending secret letters and keep trying to invent ways of testing that just don't exist, I feel like I can just say at least from us here, we are trying to minimise distractions and minimising distractions is looking more at us than at everybody else when it's pretty clear what the regs say, and also pretty clear what FIA has said to us and has said to them so far.

"But maybe we're all different. Maybe you want to find excuses before you even started for why things are not good.

"Everybody needs to do it at the best of their ability," he continued. "But that is really not how we would do things. Especially not after you've been told a few times that that is fine. You know, it's legal and it's what the regulations say. But again, if somebody wants to entertain themselves by distraction, then everybody is free to do this."

Asked to state categorically that the Mercedes power unit is legal, he said: "The PU is legal. The PU corresponds to how the regulations are written. The PU corresponds to how the checks are being done. The PU corresponds to how these things are measured in any other vehicle and everything else I can't judge upon.

"But that's how we see the world today, and that's what the FIA said, that's what the president of the FIA said, and he knows a bit about that. And in that respect, let's wait and see, but we feel robust."

Asked about last week's shakedown, where the works team completed the most mileage as did its power units, he said: "I'm always, as you know, I'm always sceptical about performances. I've been too often set my expectations in the wrong place. I just don't want to come to a realisation in Bahrain or in Melbourne that we are not what we thought we are going to be, and that is to be a race winner. Simply because of that, I think we need to have more work done at that stage.

"Yes, we feel enthused by going into this new environment," he admitted. "You wake up with a massive smile if your car is quick and the early indications are that we had were positive that at least it doesn't look like a turd and we're stuck in the midfield.

"It looks like we have something that you can build upon. So yeah, generally we are happy people, but with the scepticism of knowing that we haven't got reliable data of the other usual suspects."