Wolff: "Of course we have hidden a new super trick there"

New super trick

Technical director James Allison said earlier that the team didn't want to show the competition too much. "We don't want them to try similar things in their wind tunnels. It gives us a few extra weeks."

Toto Wolff now adds. "Of course we hid a new super trick there, otherwise we would have shown it," the Mercedes team boss jokes on Motorsport.com. "You will all be amazed when you see it."

Can't afford it

According to Wolff, Mercedes is trying to stay ahead of the competition with the mystery surrounding the new car. "There are ten days between our presentation and the first test day. If we show everything now, we give the competition extra options. They can then look at things, evaluate them and maybe even calculate them with CFD models."

According to Wolff, the period between the presentation and the first test day is too long for this. "We cannot afford to show everything so early. In a year like this, where it's an evolution of the existing regulations, it's all about the marginal gains."

Not tenths but hundredths

"Those marginal gains become a lot more important, even though they have chopped part of the floor and the consequences in terms of downforce are quite drastic. But you're not talking about tenths anymore, but about hundredths that make the difference. That is very interesting," concludes Wolff.