MOWOG wrote:[...]
It may be just me, but if there was an award for poor sportsmanship, Ferrari would be the leading candidate,

At the risk of straying completely off-topic, Ferrari is the only team that's been against these rules from Day One. In fact, it was a Ferrari veto that prevented the introduction of 4-cylinder engines.
Just some food for thought.
Generally speaking, and a bit more on-topic, every team games the system the best they can. Red Bull Racing did it through the purchase of a separate team that allowed Red Bull Technology to collect twice as much data as their rivals at a time when a sea change in the regulations put a premium on data and new testing restrictions severely limited opportunities to collect it. They were also able to shop around for an engine that best fit their needs within homologation rules that ensured performance continuity on all fronts.
All of it was perfectly legitimate, because it was all within the rules. But, that doesn't mean the rules that allowed it were any good.
Now Mercedes is reaping a similar advantage, having spent four years and untold millions on the design and development of the class-leading PU within a competitive environment that guarantees complete and unfettered supremacy to whoever gets it right first. Again, it's perfectly legitimate, and they deserve all the credit in the world for their success. But, that still doesn't mean the rules are any good.
(And all of this follows an extended period in which unrestricted testing conferred an advantage to any teams that happened to have a test track in their back yard.)
It is what it is. As the saying goes, don't hate the player, hate the game.