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I don't think either Mercedes or Red Bull have decided which of their drivers takes the WDC. They would have if they had needed to, but the relative merits of the drivers have always sorted it out without the need for team interference.
Just to put a historical perspective on it, many drivers in the past were contracted as Number 2s. Think of the times in the 50s (and maybe early 60s) when a No 1 broke his car and then took over the No 2's car in order to get a result. This crazy situation came to a natural end for several reasons:
The rules changed.
The increasing difficulty of getting in and out of the cars.
The increasing tailoring of the cockpit to suit each driver.
The last driver I know of who was a contracted Number 2 was Ronnie Peterson at Lotus in 1978 (or was it 1979?). When the 79 first came out there was only one chassis available, and Mario got it. Even after Ronnie got in a 79, he was obliged to defer to Mario if they were running 1-2. Sadly Ronnie was killed at Monza because I'm sure he would have found a way to show us who was really the quickest. Interesting footnote: at that time Team Lotus consisted of 35 people, from the Old Man down to the gopher, and they worked out of a country house stable block.
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