Mercedes always feared this moment would come. From the instant it decided on the eve of the season that it would allow Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton to race hard against each other, there was always the chance it would hit trouble at some point.
And what trouble Mercedes faces now. Beyond the lost points of the Belgian Grand Prix, and the headache of sorting out how it deals with its battling duo, it also finds itself at the centre of a huge media storm as the Hamilton and Rosberg sympathisers lock horns.
Some are already suggesting that Mercedes has created its own Frankenstein's monster, that its drivers are now out of control and there is a very real risk of the self-destructive force derailing any title ambitions.