Wolff: Ferrari is really fast

Editor

Toto Wolff has acknowledged Ferrari’s pace in pre-season testing, but insists Mercedes won’t let it get in their way.

Throughout this week’s four-day test, the first of two outings, Ferrari was the team taking the fight to Mercedes.

Both teams topped the charts on two of the four days, however, it was Mercedes who were fastest overall.

Valtteri Bottas’ 1:19.705 put him 0.247s up on Sebastian Vettel with the German using the soft tyres to Bottas’ ultrasofts.

As such Wolff has concedes that Ferrari are looking fast but says F1 has yet to see Red Bull’s true pace.

The Mercedes motorsport boss told Austria’s Osterreich: “Since we have new rules, the teams are trying to get a lot of miles to get to know the car.

“At Red Bull, we probably have not seen the car that will race [at the Australian GP].

“Ferrari is really fast.”

Asked whether Ferrari could be a serious threat, he replied: “We have to take them seriously, but at the same time not let it get in our way.”