Mercedes engineering director Aldo Costa has played down a troubling comment made recently by Toto Wolff about the team's 2019 engine development programme.
The Silver Arrows squad will be aiming for its sixth consecutive title in 2019, and will be pushing the boundaries on all fronts to do so.
Speaking about the ongoing work of Mercedes' engine department in Brixworth, Wolff alluded to a set-back encountered by the manufacturer's engineers.
"I think it was a bit misunderstood," Costa told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"When you put a new engine with new concepts on the bench, there may be something that doesn't work. But it's nothing dramatic."
The Italian engineer, who will relinquish his full-time role at the end of the year but remain an advisor to Mercedes, believes Ferrari will once again deliver a big challenge to the German team's reign in 2019.
"Ferrari will obviously be there to fight with us, and I am also expecting Red Bull, considering that they always speak good things about the new Honda engine," he said.
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