Wolff: “Mercedes has the best driver duo”

While Mercedes have already been tipped as the favorites for the title, Toto Wolff, shareholder and boss of the German team, is convinced that Mercedes also has the best driver duo. For Woff, Mercedes in terms of drivers, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, is not second even to Ferrari which this year will field Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

“Our couple is better!” Wolff said. “The other couple (Alonso-Raikkonen, ed.) is strong, but I wouldn't trade Hamilton and Rosberg for anyone else in the world.”

However, Wolff was cautious about Mercedes' chances of victory, despite the new W05 being the only car to already complete a race simulation in the first Jerez tests.

“We achieved more than expected with the debut of the new power unit,” the Austrian told Gazzetta dello Sport. “But we are cautious. Our integrated approach brings benefits to systems operation and reliability, and providing four teams helps us collect data,” he added. “But only in Melbourne will we evaluate the performances.”

Mercedes and Ferrari currently seem to have the edge over Renault at the start of the V6 turbo era: “At this stage yes, but in the long term I would say no. Red Bull and Renault had a big handicap by not running in the four days of testing, but it is too early to talk about hierarchies. It's not good for Formula 1 to have an engine engineer in crisis, but I'm sure they'll be competitive again. I hope a little less than before!”.

Wolff, in reference to Sebastian Vettel, told Auto Bild: “First of all, they have a fantastic driver. Second, they have put together a group of people who work very well. Third, they have the resources of the parent company. So there's no reason why Red Bull can't get back to the top again."

Finally, Wolff talked about the sound of the new V6s and the ugly noses of the 2014 cars: “I think the engines have a nice sound in a straight line,” he explained to Gazzetta. “Mainly because you can hear the whistle of the turbo. I like it, and the critics will get used to it, it's a modern and spectacular sound.”

For muzzles, the Mercedes is probably the most attractive as it doesn't have any noticeable humps or protrusions: “Honestly, I don't like any of the ones I've seen, even if we had a more classic approach it wouldn't be any different. But that doesn't mean we aren't still considering possible variations in the wind tunnel."