Lewis Hamilton responds to Toto Wolff over 'conservative' Ferrari claims

Lewis Hamilton has dismissed the suggestion from Toto Wolff that Ferrari stands to gain the most from the new front wing regulations coming into force at the Spanish Grand Prix.

With the FIA seeking to further limit the amount of flex in F1 front wings from the round at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya onwards, the Mercedes team principal argued the Italian squad had been the most "conservative" on that front, hinting it could therefore be relatively benefitted by the technical directive, compared to McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull.

However, his former driver is unconvinced, saying he has "zero clue" what the affect will be and questioning what gives the Austrian the "impression" he has.

When asked for his reaction to Wolff's remarks, the seven-time F1 drivers' champion joked he hopes the 53-year-old is "right" in his assertion.

"I don't know where it's coming from," Hamilton told media including RacingNews365. "I don't know what gives him that impression.

"I mean, I hope he's right," he added with a laugh. "But I have zero clue who it's gonna affect and who it's not. [It] didn't make much difference in the sim."

'A band aid for a poorly-designed technical regulation'

Hamilton, who also stated flexi-wings made the current ground-effect generation of F1 cars "nicer to drive", took aim at the original regulation, calling it "poorly designed" when asked about the new measures coming into force.

"Ultimately, the flexi wing was a band aid for a poorly-designed technical regulation, I would say," the 40-year-old said.

"And getting the setup to... and creating devices and mechanisms on the car mechanically, I think all the engineers are able to do it.

"So it's still not that easy to get the load that you need on the front end in a low speed or just rely solely on mechanical grip. But so far, everyone's kind of been managing, some people better than others.

"This weekend is going to be interesting, because less flex with the front wing, and so you have a lot of front end in the high speed and less in low [speed].

"So [it] will be interesting to see how that affects different teams. Some teams probably have flexed more than others, did a better job than others, so I really have no idea how it's going to affect us all."