Mercedes has to put its car on a diet

Rumor has it the Mercedes is going on a diet.

A heavier car wears out tires faster than a lighter car, and may be the reason why the Ferrari had better tire wear than Mercedes in the Australian GP.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff would not confirm a report from Auto Motor Und Sport that the W08 was 5kg over the 728kg minimum weight limit, but conceded efforts were being made to bring the weight down.

"I don't want to go too much into detail but it's an area we can definitely improve," said Wolff.

"With new regulations and the size of the cars, you need to balance out all the time between performance parts and the weight.

"And that's an ongoing exercise which we are doing."