How to reconcile the burning individual ambition of two elite Formula 1 drivers with their team's imperative to achieve the best collective result possible, without imposing a directive that will neutralise the sporting spectacle to which they all have a duty of care?
It seems Mercedes may have finally reached the point at which it feels this delicate balance of disharmony can no longer be maintained, after Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collided while fighting for victory on the last lap of the Austrian Grand Prix.
This collision provided the thrilling denouement to a race that seemed Hamilton's to lose from the start. He had pole; Rosberg started down in sixth thanks to a grid penalty, and with Jenson Button's high-flying McLaren-Honda providing an early buffer to the pack, everything seemed to be falling Hamilton's way early on.