The 52-year-old motor racing boss insisted it is "too early" to decide on a successor at the moment but the former world champion - who retired at the end of 2022 after 16 seasons but has admitted he is thinking about making a comeback - would be a great asset.

He told Sky Sports F1: "Sebastian is someone you can never discount.

"His track record is phenomenal and sometimes maybe taking a break is also good to re-evaluate what's important for you and re-find your motivation.

"As I said before, we haven't taken the decision yet and it's not something that we plan to do in the next few weeks."

The team principal is in regular contact with Sebastian and has been offering him advice about his next month.

He said: "With Seb I have a friendship that goes back a long time, and we are talking about everything.

"Sebastian is flirting with the idea of going back racing, whether it is with Porsche in Le Mans, which is a great programme, or whether it is coming back into Formula 1 - and I try to be a sparring partner and tell him what I think.

"And clearly you can never discount the name for our team as well."

Although Toto believes it is "too early" for Mercedes to make any decisions, he expects some big moves to be made soon.

He said: "I know that the driver market is very dynamic, some of the really good guys they are about to sign for some of the other teams, and we want to continue to have these discussions and keep the options open.

"But at that stage it's much too early for us to commit to a driver whether very young or whether very experienced - I don't want to say old! The next few months will give us more clues."