Adding downforce would be 'a mistake,' says Wolff

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has declared himself opposed to proposals to introduce greater downforce to cars under the new 2017 technical specifications currently being discussed by the teams and the FIA.

More downforce could see higher speeds and quicker lap times, but both Mercedes drivers have said that the current solution under consideration could come at the cost of on-track overtaking - a view that their boss appears to share.

"The cars will not be able to follow each other," was Wolff's blunt appraisal in a technical question-and-answer video produced and distributed by the team when asked about moves to add even more downforce to the cars from next season.

"I think adding downforce was a mistake. We like the challenge and the guys in aero have taken the fight up, but I think for Formula 1 generally, for overtaking, it was the wrong decision," he said.

Asked why he thought increased downforce was detrimental to the on-track action, Wolff explained that it was all down to the 'dirty air' thrown up by the car in front.

“We have made a step towards more downforce which means that the car that is following will have more disturbed air because of the wake of the car.

"You can almost imagine like a motorboat and the wake," he added. "At the moment when you follow a car closely, you lose downforce, so when you have 100kg of downforce and you follow a car, that will drop to 50 or 40 the nearer you come.

"That ruins your tyres and as a consequence you will not be able to overtake. A great example was Lewis [Hamilton] and Max Verstappen in Melbourne. The same will happen next year, but much more."

Wolff questioned the need to make cars faster, especially in light of Hamilton's fastest ever pole position lap at Bahrain last week.

"We've done that with a much heavier car, a standard tyre, not like in the old days where there was a tyre war between Bridgestone and Michelin," he pointed out. "It's a major achievement and it's something which we should discuss more in public rather than talking the sport down and the inefficiencies.

"Those cars are bloody fast, the fastest cars on the planet."

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