Mercedes has gone from celebrating another dominant F1 season to assessing candidates for the most coveted seat in motorsport. Nico Rosberg's decision to walk away from F1 just five days after securing the world championship caught the team by surprise and sent shockwaves through the sport.
A host of names have been linked with the vacant seat in the week since that announcement and there is still no clear choice for the seat. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff promised the team would not shy away from a "brave decision" for next year and will consider "all options" available.
In the same interview with Sky Sports, Wolff set out the criteria he and the Mercedes team is looking for in Lewis Hamilton's next teammate:
"It is about out and out pace. Mistakes are a different topic. Only on very few occasions have we seen Lewis or Nico making a mistake or colliding. More than 90 per cent of the races we've been able to score maximum points, so that is a consideration.
"Then the out and out pace in order to challenge Lewis and grow the general performance within the team. We need somebody that goes lightning fast. To combine all those three factors is what Nico has been able to do over the years.
"We will not change the philosophy. We want to have two drivers with equal opportunities that can race each other, because I think we owe that to the fans and ourselves. It's the way we want racing to happen."
We now know Mercedes will not make a decision until January 3 at the earliest, giving the team and media a chance to enjoy Christmas without the worry of an announcement. Here's what we know about each of the candidates:
Valtteri Bottas
Bottas' links to Toto Wolff have led to speculation he will get the nod, with Williams' Mercedes relationship meaning they could likely be compensated with Wehrlein if the Finn was to jump ship. However, there has been limited news about the quiet Finn since, with Wolff himself playing down the chance he will be driving in silver next year.
Wolff told Sky Sports: "Besides the personal relationship, where he's a very likeable and intelligent driver, he's also somebody who is very, very fast. But he's with Williams now, the lead driver, and is very important for the combination with Lance Stroll. Claire [Williams] and her team very much rely on him."
However, his chances appear to have risen in recent days, with BBC and Sky reporting Mercedes have approached Williams about releasing the Finn from his contract. When contacted by ESPN about those reports Williams pointed to the fact it has Bottas and Lance Stroll contracted to 2017.
The Bottas reports follow a Motorsport.com report that Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe is set for a shock move to Williams when his contract expires at the end of December.
Pascal Wehrlein
Mercedes junior Wehrlein still appears to be the easiest pick. Last week the German-Mauritian driver said he feels he's ready to step up to Mercedes. There has obviously been no update on his discussions with Sauber, which were ongoing during the Abu Dhabi weekend, as Mercedes works out how to solve its own driver dilemma. The fact Wehrlein had not yet signed a 2017 deal with another team -- something fellow Mercedes junior Esteban Ocon had done -- also makes him a simple pick for next year.
Speaking at the Autosport Awards, Wehrlein was asked if he felt ready for a spot at Mercedes, and replied: "Definitely. One season in F1 is not a lot, but I feel ready for the job, I feel confident enough.
"Now the decision is on the bosses. I guess Toto's phone must be overheating since Friday, because many drivers have called him, but I respect that process and I want them to go for the best option. One season in F1 is not a lot, but I feel ready for the job, I feel confident enough."
He also pointed out that he accumulated more miles on the 2017 Pirellis than Hamilton and Rosberg, including at the post-Abu Dhabi GP test where he replaced the former after lunch for reasons that have since become abundantly clear.
The fact Wehrlein has been a steady hand for Mercedes and has tested on frequent occasions adds to his chances, though the world champions may be wary of promoting a man whose race experience is limited to 21 races with Manor at the back end of the grid. Question marks still linger for other reasons: Force India's decision to sign Ocon over Wehrlein was hardly a ringing endorsement.
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel is the only driver to have publicly distanced himself from the vacant Mercedes seat. A German with multiple world championships growing frustrated at a Ferrari team seemingly in freefall, Vettel appeared to be a natural candidate when Rosberg made his shock announcement.
Speaking during a Ferrari event in Daytona just two days later, Vettel told Reuters: "I think it's not a big secret that both myself and Kimi [Raikkonen] have a contract [with Ferrari] for next year. So it should be clear."
So case closed, right? Well, not necessarily. Unlike many other drivers, Vettel is his own manager and is known to be a shrewd negotiator when it comes to contracts. His exit from Red Bull in 2014 came when he realised he was able to trigger a performance-related clause in contract, paving the way for a move to Ferrari. It is not beyond the realms of possibility Vettel pushed hard for similar clauses for, say, a winless season for Ferrari....
Fernando Alonso
In an ideal world, Fernando Alonso would already have tied up the other Silver Arrow for next season, finally giving him the car his talent deserves after so many years away from the top step of the podium. Toto Wolff added fuel to the fire this week when he admitted Alonso is on his list of candidates. But a shocking switch from Woking to Brackley looks increasingly unlikely.
Earlier this week, new McLaren executive director Zak Brown said he has no fears of losing Alonso to the world champions. Brown told Sky Sports: "We have a contract with Fernando and he's very happy. Obviously, he wants to be winning races, as do we, but I am not worried about that scenario. We are very comfortable where we are at."
Brown was not the only one to quell the speculation. Alonso's long-serving manager Flavio Briatore did not mince his words in an interview with Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport, saying flatly: "Fernando Alonso will not be in a Mercedes in 2017."
He added: "Granted, people always think of Fernando when a top car is free. But we have a contract and we will respect that."
Alonso is heading into the third and final year of what is believed to be a fairly watertight contract, which he signed with McLaren ahead of the 2015 season. However, Alonso is not one to shy away from the internal politics of Formula One and was reprimanded by Ferrari at the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix for saying he wanted a different car after publicly courting Red Bull in the paddock, while he also lobbied for a Mercedes drive the following season.
With one of Wolff's requirements being that drivers understand both sides of the garage will remain equal, a move for Alonso could threaten to upset the harmony at the team. However, Alonso is still widely regarded as the most complete driver on the current grid and until we see another man wearing silver overalls at the driver announcement, the Spaniard is very much a viable candidate.
Jenson Button
Button's comments in Abu Dhabi led many to question whether he was truly committed to walking away from Formula One. The 2009 world champion admitted he had been hasty in deciding to step back into an ambassadorial role at McLaren, which many saw as a retirement rather than one year out of the sport. He still remains an incredibly long shot but would be a popular choice for the world champions, a one-year stop-gap which would allow them to focus on Alonso and Vettel when their contracts expire at the end of 2017.
We've heard nothing from the Button camp since Rosberg's announcement, other than a festive Christmas message from McLaren HQ...
With Christmas just around the corner, @JensonButton popped into the MTC to record a special festive message for all our fans. 🎄 🎄 pic.twitter.com/RStHYRWC6F
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) December 9, 2016
Nico Hulkenberg
Given his newly-signed deal with Renault, Hulkenberg has always appeared to be a long shot. However, the gasps had barely subsided from last Friday's announcement when German publication Bild reported that Wolff had contacted Renault about Hulkenberg's contract when Rosberg told him he planned to retire.
The report said Renault received a call from Wolff on that Friday and that his enquiries were immediately rebuffed by the French manufacturer. Reports of Mercedes' supposed interest have since gone quiet. Unless Mercedes is absolutely determined the replacement must be Hulkenberg, it seems like there are one too many hoops for the world champions to jump through just to come close to making this happen.
Renault clearly believes Hulkenberg is the man to return them to past glories.
Team boss Frederic Vasseur said: "Our driver line-up for 2017 shows our intent and aspirations. Nico comes to the team at a perfect time for both us and him. He has experience of working with different teams, including those we expect to be our rivals next season.
"As well as a significant amount of experience, he has youth and hunger on his side. He has been a driver hungry for the right opportunity to help build a team and we are that team. It's a perfect match."
Esteban Ocon
Ocon still seems like a fairly long shot. A highly-rated Mercedes junior with a newly-signed contract with Force India, an upgrade to the world champions is not beyond the realms of possibility, though Wolff may be wary of promoting the Frenchman too early. Since Rosberg's announcement there has been almost nothing linking Ocon to the vacant seat, meaning he looks likely to start his first full F1 season as a Force India driver next year.
Carlos Sainz
Sainz is an interesting candidate. A hot commodity after a stellar season with Toro Rosso, Sainz seems to be caught in limbo at Red Bull's junior team -- good enough to earn promotion to the main outfit but blocked by arguably the strongest pairing on the grid, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. Red Bull fought hard to keep him signed to the programme this year when Renault came sniffing but it might be a different story with Mercedes. As with Ocon, Sainz's name has barely been mentioned in the days since Rosberg's announcement so he is still a massive outsider.
Any move for Sainz would require Red Bull agreeing to release him from his Toro Rosso deal -- something Christian Horner emphatically stated the team would not do.
Horner told the BBC: "Why would we do that [let him go to Mercedes]? Carlos has done a great job. He is a Red Bull driver.
"We have invested in him to get him into F1 and they are all on long-term contracts so it wouldn't make any sense to feed one of your main opponents with one of your assets. They will know the contractual situations of the drivers they are involved with but their choices are pretty limited."