Toto Wolff has admitted Mercedes might consider imposing 'team orders' yet again this weekend in Austin.

The world championship looks certain to fall eventually to Lewis Hamilton, but Mercedes boss Wolff admitted that if it can be wrapped up sooner rather than later, Valtteri Bottas may be asked to move aside.

"We discussed it a lot and I struggled a lot to get to this decision," he is quoted by Corriere dello Sport.

"In the end, if it is necessary on Sunday, we will probably take the points into consideration, even if it is something I hate to do. But let's see how it goes on Sunday," Wolff added.

On the other hand, Wolff said he regrets the fact that, with Ferrari looking fully competitive in Austin, Sebastian Vettel has a three-position grid penalty to serve.

"For the championship and the race, obviously it's not good that Sebastian is not there to fight with us for a spectacular race," he said.

"It's not a fair rule and it's not a good penalty," Wolff added, referring to Vettel's red flag infraction from practice.

"We are overloading this sport with regulation."