Mercedes unveils the F1 W04

04/02/2013

The Mercedes AMG Petronas team became the seventh team to unveil its 2013 contender, when drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg presented the W04 to the media on the start/finish straight at Jerez today.

The two drivers arrived at the official photo call at the wheel of two Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Coupe Black Series, the fifth Black Series model from Mercedes-AMG.

The new F1 W04 completed its first laps of today's 100 km shakedown at 10:21 CET (09:21 GMT) in the hands of Nico Rosberg, who drove the car throughout the morning. Lewis Hamilton, who was on hand for a promotional shoot for new sponsor Blackberry, will take the wheel of the car for the first time this afternoon, the first British works driver since Sir Stirling Moss in 1955 to drive a Formula One Silver Arrow.

With the technical regulations remaining stable in 2013, ahead of major changes for 2014, the basic vehicle concept of the F1 W04 is a sophisticated evolution of last year's car. Led by Engineering Director Aldo Costa, under the coordination of Technical Director Bob Bell, the project commenced with initial aerodynamic testing in early summer 2012.

The aerodynamic design philosophy has been optimised around a new five-element front wing design and a second-generation Coanda exhaust at the rear. The car retains pushrod front suspension and a pullrod rear suspension, aimed at optimising tyre life and performance, while the rear end has been aggressively packaged to optimise aerodynamic development potential. The F1 W04 also does away with the stepped nose design of its predecessor thanks to a small 'vanity panel', which was found to offer a small gain during aerodynamic testing. The car completed its final mandatory FIA crash test on 15 January.

"2013 marks the start of a second era for our Silver Arrows works team," said Ross Brawn. "The restructuring we undertook at the team over the past 18 months are now growing in maturity and this is reflected in the F1 W04, which is a clear step forward in design and detail sophistication over its predecessor. Many thousands of hours of work have been invested by our technical teams in Brackley and Brixworth to ensure that the new car delivers a step change in performance compared to last season. We are also hugely proud to welcome Lewis to the team as a works Mercedes-Benz driver. With Lewis and Nico, we have what I believe to be the strongest driver line-up in Formula One and I know that a healthy level of competition between them both will help drive the team forward."

"I've been working really hard over the winter on my physical preparation," said Nico Rosberg, "both in the mountains - climbing to over 2,000 metres with ski boots - and also in the Mediterranean, training on my bike, swimming and running. I fitted that around regular visits to see the guys at the factory in December and January and we have done some really good work, especially in the simulator.

Page: 1 | 2 | Next | Last