Secret mechanic: Mercedes' fun is over

Formula 1 has had more than its share of column inches since that fateful moment on lap two of the Belgian Grand Prix.

For fans, it adds even more spice to an already fiery relationship between the title-chasing team-mates and makes the rest of the season look tantalisingly unpredictable and precariously balanced.

Daniel Ricciardo might even now seem a genuine threat for the title, given the controversial double points scenario in Abu Dhabi, and I'm sure there are more than a few neutrals who would love to see that scenario play out.

For the Mercedes team members though, the clash between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will have changed the game within the garage.

Early in the season it became very clear that Mercedes' W05 racecar had a mammoth pace advantage over its rivals. At some circuits we've seen comparative laptime differences of around two seconds to its nearest challengers, and few in F1 can remember seeing anything similar. I certainly can't.

It would have been almost impossible for team members not to start believing - very early on - that one of their drivers would be world champion, with the other a close runner-up.

Both sides of the garage would have felt sure their only real challenge in that pursuit would come from the guys wearing the same uniform as them, only a few metres across the floor.

Ricciardo has the potential to cause some strife for Mercedes © LAT

The dominance has been such that many in the sport - perhaps even Mercedes' own mechanics and engineers - haven't paid too much attention to the points tallies, other than the gap between the two clear favourites... until now.

Sunday's result has brought an unlikely third party into the mix and instead of focusing solely on the other half of their own team, the Mercedes crews will need to keep at least half an eye on what Red Bull is up to from now on.

In real terms that could mean taking fewer risks as a team in general, knowing there's someone dangerous ready to pick up the pieces of any fallout. It could mean needing to take strategic decisions based around Ricciardo's race, not just their own two drivers, and that could end up compromising one Merc driver over the other.

As a mechanic, the fact that the world's now talking about the possibility that someone else could actually win this year means significant added pressure.

Up until now, there's been such an advantage that mistakes, missed opportunities or reliability issues merely impact the battle between the two team-mates, but there's now another pressure: there's someone else breathing down their necks.

I'm sure many of them remember all too well what happened to the McLaren guys in 2007 in a similar situation; in fact I believe some of them even worked at the team during that period.

That pressure can change the atmosphere around the garage. It can mean it's less relaxed, less confident and so there's less fun and games going on in the background. In the end it means it's less enjoyable to be there.

Of course the other major difference after Sunday's race is the relationship between Mercedes' two drivers and that, more than anything else, will have changed the dynamic within the garage.

The rivals' mechanics will be firmly on their man's side © LAT

That incident has been widely debated across the world by all manner of experts, fans, drivers and journalists since the weekend. There has been little consensus over the rights and wrongs of the situation.

The two drivers clearly have polarised opinions and the result is a total and very public breakdown in trust and a new 'gloves-off' attitude for the remainder of the season. For the team, that has a big impact too.

From my own experience I can tell you that as a mechanic in an F1 team, you tend to side with your own driver over any contentious issue that happens on track.

More often than not these issues will be in relation to a driver from another team, perhaps a 50/50 move that ends in contact, or a compromised race result. In that instance you get behind your man, almost blindly sometimes, to fight his corner against the 'opposition'.

At Mercedes, the 'opposition' is now firmly entrenched on either side of the team's garage and with both sets of mechanics and engineers likely dug in with their men, the atmosphere will have changed among the 'boys' too.

It's highly likely the guys on Nico's side think he's been unduly hung out to dry by the management and that Lewis was completely out of order in trying to stir things up in the media, suggesting that he'd been the innocent victim of a deliberate act of war.

In their eyes, Nico was fighting fair and square and the pair just got too close. The outcome for them was fortunate, but not in any way premeditated.

Conversely, Lewis's crew will have taken his version of events and see it as 'proof' that the Monaco incident from earlier in the year was also a deliberate act. If your opponent starts punching below the belt, or even if you just believe they are, it tends to fire you up even more and drive a fierce determination to beat them.

With two very faithful and loyal crews of soldiers ready to do battle for their drivers as the end game draws nearer, the Mercedes pit could end up being a very difficult place to work.

There's absolutely no suggestion that any member of the team would even think for a moment about not doing the best job possible when the two sides come together for pitstops - they're all thorough professionals - but the days of engineers or mechanics from each side openly discussing anything performance or strategy related over dinner, will now be well and truly over.