Mercedes would not be against the introduction of a budget cap into Formula 1 if it could be regulated properly and works for everyone, according to Motorsport boss Toto Wolff.
The issue of the sport's financial structure going forward has somewhat faded into the background in recent weeks following the strong reaction to a draft proposal for changes to the engines for 2021, however, it is likely to provide the biggest area of disagreement between the top teams and F1 bosses.
Liberty made it clear upon their arrival that the current inequality across the grid could not continue with the unfair distribution of revenue and additional bonuses but, as the Austrian hinted, has done very little to try and address it so far.
"That's the elephant in the room," Wolff told ESPN. "That's the most important topic after 2020, it is clear that we need to find a structure that works for everybody as some of the smaller teams struggle on the income side."
Revenue distribution is just a small part of the conversation with budget caps and other restrictions also being considered and the Mercedes boss insists he is as open to change as anyone.
"We are not against a cost cap as long as it can be policed in the right way and it has a sensible system of introduction," he claimed. "We are not going to cut our workforce by 30 percent from one year to another and we are not going to give up a performance advantage that we have lightly, so there needs to be something on the other side.
"These discussions have just started in a friendly way and again here we acknowledge that we might have different opinions, but at the end, for the sake of F1, we will find the right solutions."
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Despite that, Wolff has joined Ferrari Chairman Sergio Marchionne is threatening to pull their respective teams out of F1 if the direction of the sport is not to their liking and it is a position he maintains even if he voices it differently.
"Sergio is pretty outspoken and straight and he comes to the point," Toto commented. "He says that he wouldn't accept certain things and it's his way of dealing with things -- and in principle, I share his opinion.
"I said in Abu Dhabi that we love F1, we are in here to stay, but it needs to have the right framework, governance framework, regulatory framework, it needs to be managed in the right way and we will voice our opinion if we think things are not going in the right direction."
