Mercedes: "Overtaking could be impossible"

We may only be one race into the 2017 season, but Mercedes is already warning that the new rules could be making overtaking on track impossible for the drivers.

Speaking to F1's official website, team boss Toto Wolff explained: "I love the new cars. 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."

Wolff's drivers are also worried about their ability to overtake others, with Lewis Hamilton saying that upon losing the race lead in Australia while in the pits, he knew he would be unable to retake it from Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel on track.

"Unfortunately it's harder than ever to get close to cars, which is a shame," the Briton revealed. "I just took it easy. At the end, obviously, I got more pace but even if I did close the gap, you can't overtake."

Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas said of the difficulty: "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 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."

Mason Hawker