Lights Out: Mercedes and Ferrari are getting silly now

'Will the last one out the door turn the lights off?' Maybe we're not quite at that stage yet, but Mercedes and Ferrari would have you believe that it might not be far off. We've heard plenty from Sergio Marchionne, but now Niki Lauda has been threatening to take one of Formula 1's leading teams away.

We've grown accustomed to seeing Ferrari toys propelled from the plan in recent months, as they try to preserve their place at the top of F1 and crush anyone who would challenge them the sacrosanct "DNA" of the sport.

The notion of a $150million budget cap and cheaper engines have incensed the Scuderia and Silver Arrows.

Lauda says it'll be curtains for F1 if it heads in the "wrong direction". Of course, a sharp change of direction that hamstrung a dominant Red Bull team was fine...

The words have been repeated so much as to leave them with all the conviction of the "let me at 'em, let me at 'em" approach of a pub car park slanging match.

Mercedes have bigger fish to fry anyway, namely a contract extension for Lewis Hamilton that is getting more and more stale.

With the Silver Arrows perhaps past their best and an already bloated F1 calendar only going to get bigger, could the reigning champion ape his old sparring partner and go full 'Rosberg'...?

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These happy campers aren't holding up any traffic... ???????????? #RaceDagen pic.twitter.com/1HSO4hFNyF — Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) May 20, 2018