19/01/2015
NEWS STORY
Mercedes will pull the wraps of the F1 W06 Hybrid on Sunday 1 February at Jerez, just before pre-season testing gets underway.
The next generation of Silver Arrows racers will make its first appearance in front of assembled media on the opening day of winter testing, with live coverage brought to the public via the team's social media channels. (Further details on timings will follow).
Nico Rosberg will then take the wheel for day one of the test, returning to action again on day three. Lewis Hamilton will drive on days two and four. This driver allocation is the reverse of that which was used at the opening test of 2014.
"The workload this winter has been as great as ever," said Toto Wolff. "Where last year we were preparing for an all-new formula of racing, we are now faced with the big challenge of making the next step in our development. We know that we went into the winter with a target on our backs for the other teams - and we are certain that our rivals will be competitive from the opening race in Melbourne. So we have to focus on every detail if we want to build any advantage this year and that is what we have done.
"This is an exciting time of year as our collective efforts all come together in the new car. Everybody in Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart has put a great amount of effort into creating the latest Silver Arrow and I thank them for their efforts so far. We are excited to see how the car performs when it begins running."
The Brackley based outfit, which is expected to start the season with its power unit unchanged from 2014, is the fourth team to announce its launch date. It is expected that several other cars will be unveiled as the Jerez test gets underway.