The team was secretive about the floor when it launched the car, and Wolff gave little away when asked about it today.
“I think if I were to start with the benefits of the floor for aero purposes, you will probably get the wrong information,” he said.
“I think it looks good — optimising the flow around the lack of aerodynamic performance that we have with the new regulations, and let’s see whether it can be translated into real performance.”
Wolff also refused to say where Mercedes had spent its development tokens, saying cryptically: “I’m sure you haven’t seen all the cars in the specification that they are going to be raced in Bahrain.”
The reason for his guardedness was clear later in the conference where he admitted that Mercedes would be studying rivals’ cars to analyse their developments.
Asked what he had spotted on competitors’ cars, he said: “The days would be spent with our photographers, trying to capture some parts of the car. Obviously, not copying from photos.
“I think it’s too early to say there is a specific part that that performs well because things maybe look funky for non-aerodynamicists but not proving that they are really changing everything in terms of performance.
“That analysis will be made after the test.”