Mercedes reveals 'innovative' new noseposted in F125 | 02 | 2016
MERCEDES UNVEILED AN innovative new nose on its race car in Barcelona this morning, but it's unclear yet whether the team will be able to use the nose — dubbed 'Bruce' by the team — in its current configuration for the opening grand prix in Australia.
The FIA imposes tough checks at each race to prevent teams running flexible front wings: the new Mercedes design has yet to pass the required deflection test checks.
Article 3.7.1 of Formula 1's technical regulations states that the wing must deflect no more than 10mm vertically when a 1000N force is applied at points 675mm and 975mm forward of the front wheel centre line and 720mm from the car centre line.
Reigning world champ Lewis Hamilton was the first to drive the car — which also sported an S-duct near the top and new turning vanes — this morning, watched by team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Related: Mercedes reveals F1 W07 Hybrid
"It gets harder and harder to continue to develop within the same rules envelope," Hamilton said, "so the team are working as hard as they can to keep us ahead of the competition.
"It's easier to chase and catch up than it is to stay ahead, but we've started on the right foot and we've already got new bits on the car.
"You don't want to show all of your cards, although you need to bring these parts to test them.
"All the teams are spying on each other, so every time you bring a new component they will take loads of pictures of it and take it back to their engineers.
"If it's better than a design of their own, they'll probably come up with their own version of it, test it in the windtunnel and see if it works on their car.
"But by the time they've done that, it's a couple of months down the road so we hopefully have the advantage."
Related: Vettel fastest in opening F1 test
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Jim McGill