Mercedes warns overtaking will be a problem

The Mercedes team fears that the this year's new rules and regulations are already making overtaking nearly impossible.

"I love the new cars," team boss Toto Wolff told the Formula1 website. "When you look at the onboard – for example Lewis' pole position lap – that is mind blowing. That is what we wanted to achieve.

"But the overtaking is not great. Melbourne might be different though – when we get to tracks where the DRS effect is a little bit larger it might help us."

His concerns about how possible overtaking was with the new cars in 2017 were echoed by both his drivers.

"Unfortunately it’s harder than ever to get close to cars, which is a shame," said Lewis Hamilton. He commented that after he lost the lead during the pit stops, he knew he wouldn't be able to pass Sebastian Vettel on track.

"I just took it easy," he admitted. "At the end, obviously, I got more pace but even if I did close the gap, you can’t overtake."

His new team mate Valtteri Bottas agreed that overtaking really hadn't been on the cards in Melbourne.

"You know even in the years before it’s been difficult to follow once you get within one and a half, one second.

"The turbulent air messes up the aerodynamics of the car and that way we don’t have that much grip.

"Now, as more of the grip from the car is relying on the aero it’s a bigger effect and the cars are wider so I think there’s more turbulent air.

"I think it’s more like two seconds or even two and a half, because you actually feel quite a big effect from the car in front

"That way in the corners it’s more difficult to follow. Obviously you have a bigger slipstream on the straight, but if you can’t follow in the corners it’s tricky to get a slipstream. That’s the problem."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.