Will this be the racing car Mercedes hopes it can win the Formula 1 world championship for the third successive time?
The new F1 W07 Hybrid is one good-looking racing car and it’s not surprising Mercedes has gone for “optimisation absolutely everywhere” with their latest challenger.
The car had it’s first shakedown run on Friday (February 19) at Silverstone, as Nico Rosberg and world champion Lewis Hamilton clocking up just under 100 kilometres between them as part of a promotional event.
Despite winning the constructors’ and drivers’ title in the past two years, the team’s target is still for perfection according to technical executive director Paddy Lowe.
“After a highly successful season all round in 2015, our priority has been to identify the areas in which we were weakest and to try to improve on those,” said Lowe.
“Our objective is excellence in all areas and, while we had some fantastic results last year, there are many areas in which we can still be much better.
“That’s the kind of culture we try to instil throughout the whole organisation – one of constantly striving to reach something better.
“We had a number of races that didn’t go to plan in 2015 – Singapore in particular – so there were a lot of things that needed improving for 2016.
“We are seeking optimisation absolutely everywhere.”
The F1 W07 Hybrid certainly looks the part in terms of beauty. Long may continue the Silver Arrows supreme in Formula 1.
News story
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/new-mercedes-f1-car-breaks-cover-674643/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/35625197
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2016/02/21/mercedes-w07-first-pictures-revealed/
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/headlines/2016/2/mercedes-reveal-the-f1-w07-hybrid-.html
http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12430/10126651/f1-champions-mercedes-reveal-w07
http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12472/10175960/lewis-hamilton-i8217ve-not-bored-like-sebastian-vettel-did
Social media
https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1
https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/701316966527721472
https://twitter.com/PET_Motorsports/status/701339470151421953
https://www.facebook.com/MercedesAMGF1/
Interview with Paddy Lowe on the new Mercedes:
http://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/news/2015/2016-mercedes-benz-f1-w07-hybrid-launch-paddy-lowe/
Details about the new car:
http://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/car/f1-w06-hybrid/
Promotional video:
https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/701028879322914816
https://twitter.com/MercedesAMGF1/status/701094832274444288
Mercedes believes it will have little opportunity to upgrade its new-for-2016 car ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix once Formula 1 testing starts on Monday.
The reigning world champion team officially unveiled its latest challenger, the F1 W07 Hybrid, on Sunday with the target of clinching constructors’ and drivers’ titles for the third successive year.
According to executive technical director Paddy Lowe, the car that hits the track at Barcelona will not be too far removed from the one that runs in Melbourne.
Teams have previously begun testing with a ‘launch spec’ car and added substantial updates over the course of what used to be a three-test pre-season spread across a month or more.
This year there are just two tests, back to back, and then a two-week gap to Australia.
“We’ve now reached a new minimum in terms of winter testing, with two banks of four days,” said Lowe.
“That’s something the team has been preparing for by producing better designs and undertaking better preparation and testing in the R&D lab so that we’re as well placed as possible to hit the ground running.
“What’s different for 2016 is actually not so much that there are only two tests, but that they’re both very close to the first race of the season.
“This has notably reduced the extent to which we can upgrade the car from ‘launch spec’ to the first-race spec.
“That window is now very narrow, which reduces the number of potential upgrades ahead of the opening grand prix weekend.”
Lowe also feels rules stability means there has been little chance for the car to undergo a significant overhaul.
“It’s very tough to find performance under a stable set of regulations and we were particularly pleased with how the car turned out in 2015 when we had the same situation,” said Lowe.
“The team did a fantastic job – digging very deep to find all sorts of innovations in areas that might have been considered static.
“2016 is another carry-over year from a regulatory point of view and potential gains inevitably become harder to find under these circumstances.
“This is what tests an engineering team the most and I must say that this team has been very good at that. It’s far easier to find performance when you have a new set of rules, that’s for sure.”
It has resulted in the car going through what Lowe describes as an “overall evolution” for this year.
“It’s difficult to have a complete revolution when the rules have stayed pretty much the same year on year,” he said.
“But we aim to make minor revolutions wherever we can, even within a small context.
“We may look at a completely new packaging solution or suspension concept, for instance.
“So while the car may look very similar to its predecessor from the outside – as is inherent within stable regulations – underneath there are quite a lot of mini revolutions that make up an overall evolution for the new season.”
Source: Autosport.com