Autosportfoto

Mercedes: We fear everybody ahead of F1 2017

Toto Wolff says there is an "opportunity for everybody" under the new rules for F1 2017 and that Mercedes "fear everybody".

Mercedes has set the standard these last three years, winning both the Drivers' and Constructors' titles in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

However, this year aerodynamics will again become more important and teams will have to contend with wider cars and new wider tyres, with speeds predicted to be three to five seconds per lap faster.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live Wolff admitted his fear was that there could be the "odd silver bullet" like Brawn GP had back in 2009.

"I was nervous four years ago, when we started our journey, whether we would be able to win races and championships and we have done that in the last years, so the nervousness has gone a little bit. But equally there is a risk," Wolff said, "and we wouldn't want to fall in the trap of being complacent, so this regulation change comes at the right time

"We are super motivated in getting it right and we would be the first team in getting out of the blocks well during a regulation change [having previously set the standard the year before], but it's not a given.

"We don't know, there could be the odd silver bullet like Ross [Brawn] had back in 2009 with the double diffuser and we will probably see at the second Barcelona test if somebody has a new innovation on the car which others haven't spotted.

"Through a regulation change you need to fear everybody because nobody would have expected Brawn to be a championship contender in 2009, so we look at everybody and there is opportunity for everybody."

Asked if he really thinks the cars will be three to five seconds a lap quicker, he added they will definitely be faster, although by how much is difficult to say until the first pre-season test gets underway on February 27 in Barcelona.

"I think they are going to be faster because there is simply much more downforce; they are wider.

"They look quite cool. I am not such a big fan of the swept rear wing, but the car looks spectacular from the front and rear and, when you add those fat tyres, it is a little bit retro, a little bit 80s - lots of technical detail on the bodywork, which is fascinating.

"How they look is definitely better, but how they will drive and how much faster they will be, we don't know because we haven't seen the tyres perform yet on track." 

Zdroj: crash.net