The new Mercedes W03 was officially unveiled to the world’s press just prior to the start of the second week of official Formula One testing at the Circuit de Catalunya.
As seen in the spy shots earlier last week, the W03 features the stepped nose, similar to that of several other Formula One cars.
The new car has already been shaken down at Silverstone last week, and conducted a private test at Catalunya on Sunday – which the team were permitted to undertake because it had only been present for three of the four days of running at Jerez earlier this month.
Mercedes chose to stick with its 2011 car for Jerez in order to gain valuable data on this season’s Pirelli tyres, and was quickest on two of the days it was present – though it was running to full 2011 specification, including the no-longer-permitted exhaust-blown diffuser.
Norbert Haug, Mercedes motorsport chief, has commented that the W03 would not feature any radical innovations – contrary to speculation that the team had waited until the second test to reveal the car because it featured technical breakthroughs it did not want rivals to copy.
The most obvious outward change is the move to a stepped nose, in common with the majority of rival teams.
Having been unable to beat rivals Red Bull Racing, McLaren and Ferrari to race wins in its first two years, Mercedes GP is hoping to get among the top three on a more regular basis this season.
Last year it revamped its technical team with the addition of former Renault engineer Bob Bell, ex-Ferrari design chief Aldo Costa, and Geoff Willis, formerly of Williams, BAR and Red Bull Racing.
Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher continue in an unchanged driver line-up at Mercedes. With Schumacher coming into the final season of what was initially planned as a three-year comeback deal, speculation about whether the seven-time world champion will stay on into 2013 and beyond is likely to be one of the biggest stories around Mercedes this season.
Mercedes GP is making the steps that are needed to eventually get itself to the front of the Formula 1 grid.
That is the view of Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Norbert Haug, who feels that the outfit has learned valuable lessons over the past two seasons that should help it make good progress.
“We are in the building up process,” said Haug as his team unveiled its new W03 at Barcelona on Tuesday. “We have been two times fourth in the last two years and our ultimate goal is to move up the ladder and go in the ultimate direction of first place.
“It takes time and a lot of effort, but we are working very hard and ultimately we can achieve it.
“We want to climb up the ladder. To beat Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren-Mercedes is quite a task, but ultimately we want to achieve that. We are still a young team, we need to learn and I think our learning process is underway. My feeling is we are heading in the right direction.”
The W03 features the stepped nose that is common in F1 this year, but is more sculpted than other designs.
“I think our designers did a good job,” he said. “With these stepped noses you need to get used to it, but wait and see. After a while the car that is winning races looks good, and I think our new Silver Arrows is a pleasant and nice car.”
Mercedes GP elected to skip the first pre-season test at Jerez in order to give itself more development time for the W03, which has already had a shakedown test at Silverstone and a full day of running at Barcelona. It joins the second pre-season test at Barcelona this week.
Source: Autosport.com
Schumacher optimistic after test driving new Mercedes W03 via BBC Sport:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17099297
Pictures of the Mercedes W03 via Sky Sports F1:
http://www1.skysports.com/formula1/gallery/23871/7535068/mercedes-w03
Mercedes reveals 2012 charger via Sky Sports F1:
http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12472/7535071/Mercedes-reveal-2012-charger
After unveiling the W03 to the world’s press, Ross Brawn says Mercedes must move up in 2012 Formula One season. Autosport.com has the story.
Ross Brawn believes Mercedes GP must move up the Formula 1 grid this year, following two consecutive seasons where it finished fourth in the standings.
After officially unveiling its new W03 at Barcelona on Tuesday, Brawn said that the Brackley-based outfit has the ingredients it needs to deliver improved form on track – which means regularly fighting for podium finishes.
“We have to go forward,” he said. “None of us are happy with a recurring fourth place. That is not why any of us are here. We have to go forward, but I am quietly confident with the strength we have got, the resources we have got and the team we are building that we can do that.”
Brawn says that the one factor that has encouraged him about Mercedes GP’s prospects was the bolstering of the technical department that occurred last year – and specifically the arrival of Bob Bell, Geoff Willis and Aldo Costa.
“I think the important thing for me is the strengthening we have done of the team,” he said. “We have much more depth in the engineering team that we had 12 months ago, especially with Bob Bell joining, and Geoff Willis and Aldo Costa.
“We had a great, very bright team of engineers, but adding that maturity and that strength gives me the confidence that we are going to react more strongly to anything we face. I don’t know where we are going to be with the car, I feel reasonably comfortably with what we have done but wherever we are, I am sure we are going to have a much stronger response that we ever had in the past.”
When asked if the team was now mature enough to go for top three finishes regularly, Brawn said: “We are definitely ready to go for podiums. Any team that has not won the world championship has to look at how it can improve, how it can strengthen and how it can achieve better results. Even if you win the world championship you still look at that.
“And if you are not winning races and not winning a championship then perhaps you have to look at even stronger improvements. But the key is not to ruin what you already have to build something stronger, and that is what we have been very focused on.
“We have some great people in the team already and I was comfortable in adding Geoff, Aldo and Bob because they are people I know would fit in with the existing structure, but also enhance the structure and make it stronger.”
Brawn says he remains comfortable with the team’s decision to skip the opening pre-season test at Jerez, even though it means the outfit has less time to prepare its W03 for the first race.
“For us at least (Jerez) was quite important, because we wanted to correlate the new car, the old car, the new tyres and the old tyres and understand where we are,” he said.
“With the old car being so reliable it meant we did a solid three days of testing, and we did almost as much mileage in that as many people did in four. That meant we just did lots of useful tyre testing, so we could get that out the way and now focus on new things on the new car.”
The W03 features the now common stepped nose, and Brawn says the outfit has learned lessons from last year in its design – when some radical concepts on the W02 did not deliver the steps the team had hoped for.
“Notwithstanding the distinctive nose design, which is certainly an acquired taste, the F1 W03 is an elegant interpretation of the current regulations, and a clear step forward over its predecessor in terms of detail design and sophistication,” he said.
“Last year, we produced a very bold car and, although its more radical elements didn’t always deliver the results we had hoped for, the experience we gained has been invaluable to the design of the 2012 car.”
Michael Schumacher believes it is too soon to know whether the new Mercedes W03 can be a winner but says that it did give him the right messages when he shook it down for the first time at Silverstone last week.
Mercedes unveiled its 2012 challenger at Barcelona on Tuesday morning, having completed a private test with it at the circuit on Sunday.
And Schumacher says he can’t wait to get a better picture of its true potential this week.
“Already last week, when we were driving the F1 W03 for the very first time, it instantly gave us good feedback and sensations,” said Schumacher.
“Starting today, we will work intensively to make it a competitive runner.
“Obviously, we will only see over the next couple of weeks how big the step is that we have made, but I can say already that the guys and girls back in the factories at Brackley and Brixworth were brilliant in putting in so much effort.
“For my part, I am eager to fight again, looking forward to the new season, and I can’t wait for it to begin.”
Team-mate Nico Rosberg was also positive about his initial reaction to the new car: “We have had a good start to our 2012 testing programme, and it was a great feeling to drive the first laps in the new F1 W03.
“The car looks good, and is very nicely packaged under the bodywork – all the parts are in harmony, which reflects how well the different departments of our team are working together,” he added.
“From the beginning of our running, we have been able to focus on understanding the car and making good progress with our test programme.”
Source: Autosport.com