While Red Bull Racing has become Mercedes' closest challenger over the summer, Toto Wolff admits he would like to see Ferrari consistently join the fight up ahead.
Following its restructuring at the end of the 2014 season and Sebastian Vettel's three wins last season, it was believed the Scuderia would rise to the occasion and properly upset Mercedes' dominance.
Unfortunately, Ferrari's ambitions have not yet come to fruition, which Wolff regrets.
"Ferrari is a great brand with capable people, and it would have been good fun to fight it out on track," said the Mercedes boss.
"For whatever reason, in the most recent races they haven't been able to perform to their levels - to the levels they expect to perform and we expect them to perform.
While he'll take his Silver Arrows dominance any day of the week, Wolff believes closer competition among the top teams would better serve Formula 1's interests.
"For me the battle with Ferrari would be great for Formula 1, and even if this sounds a little absurd, I was very much looking forward to it.
"I hope they find their strengths again and we fight it out on track."
The Mercedes boss isn't discarding the Scuderia altogether however, and believes next year's change of regulations may just revive the Italian outfit's luster.
"I don't think you can write Ferrari off. They have clearly had a tough time recently, and I think they switched off very early for 2017.
"Never underestimate a team with so much resources and so much passion. That would be my view."
Scene at the German Grand Prix
Quotes of the week - German Grand Prix
2016 German Grand Prix - Driver ratings
Breakfast with ... Christian Danner
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
Helmut Marko believes that Red Bull and Max Verstappen are unlikely to challenge for victory…
Automotive giant General Motors is reportedly back in the game as a potential entrant in…
The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…
Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…
It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…
Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…