Wolff admits Mercedes’ 2020 car development stopped

Toto Wolff has revealed that Mercedes has ceased development of its 2020 car.

The dominant team and its multiple champion, Lewis Hamilton, will almost certainly continue to keep cruising towards both world championships this year.

"We have not been making any improvements to the car for a long time," team boss Wolff is quoted by Speed Week.

"We have given it a lot of thought, because you cannot afford to prematurely end the development of the current car every season. But we have decided to focus entirely on 2021 and 2022."

In the meantime, Dr Helmet Marko says Red Bull’s 2020 development is still "fully" in action, with the result that Max Verstappen was closer to the pace at the Nurburgring.

Wolff admits the "balance of power" could therefore change before the end of the season.

"We have seen a couple of times that we had a very good start to the season and also a strong middle section, and then our opponents catch up at the end," he said. "That is because they continue to develop."

Meanwhile, Hamilton has pushed back on the notion that while he has benefitted from Mercedes’ utter dominance since 2014, F1 legend Michael Schumacher played a much bigger role in Ferrari’s success during that era.

"As much as I love Michael and as much as he is a legend, it wasn’t just him," the British driver is quoted by Kronen Zeitung.

"You talk about how Michael made Ferrari a success, but no one can do that," Hamilton added. "I didn’t make Mercedes a success and Michael didn’t make Ferrari a success either."