Merc unveils 2012 carposted in F121 | 02 | 2012
MERCEDES UNVEILED ITS 2012 Formula One challenger in Barcelona this morning. The German giant — ironically based in Brackley, very close to Silverstone — lifted the wraps from its W03 immediately before the start of the second week of testing.
Both drivers, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, gave the car an initial shakedown at a secret session at Silverstone last week, then tested again in secret at Catalunya on Sunday.
Seven-times world champ Schumacher is in the final year of his three-year return to racing, and speculation continues that Scot Paul di Resta will join the Mercedes team in 2013.
The car will be driven in public for the first time today. Mercedes stuck with its 2011 car for the first test at Jerez a fortnight ago.
In common with the majority of rival teams, Mercedes has moved to a stepped nose with the new car. And team boss Ross Brawn believes Mercedes GP must move up the grid this year: in 2010 and ''11, the team could only manage fourth in the constructors' championship.
Watch our video of the Mercedes GP unveiling & interviews
"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.
"I think the important thing for me is the strengthening we have done of the team. 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 comfortable 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.
"We're 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.
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"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."
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."
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Jim McGill