Mercedes Unveil New W03 Car At Barcelona

Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg have unveiled the new Mercedes AMG F1 W03 in the pit-lane of the Circuit de Catalunya, ahead of the second pre-season test which gets underway today. The Mercedes becomes the 10th car to be launched, leaving Marussia and HRT the only remaining teams to launch their 2012 cars.

The new Mercedes features an aggressive front nose design, which includes the popular step-nose design. This still leaves McLaren as the only team who have designed a car without the step-nose design, raising questions as to whether it’ll benefit the team or not.

Mercedes opted for a later launch date of their 2012 challenger, with the aim to have more time designing the car. This decision was met with skepticism by many teams’ up and down the grid, with many eager to see if the new Mercedes featured a new design concept for 2012.

  However Mercedes motor sport Chief, Norbert Haug, announced prior to the launch that the new Mercedes W03 would not feature any innovative designs. This was contrary to many who believed Mercedes were hiding a new design concept which could be easily copied by the opposition.

Since Mercedes took over from Brawn GP after the 2009 season, the team have have failed to win a race, even though they have a strong driver line-up in Nico Rosberg and 7-time World Champion, Michael Schumacher. With Schumacher unable to even step on the podium since his return to the sport, he will be hoping the Mercedes W03 allows him to be more competitive in 2012.

Nico Rosberg has yet to win a race in Formula 1, and will be hoping that the Mercedes W03 gives him an opportunity to clench that all allusive maiden Grand Prix victory in 2012.

Mercedes will be hoping that the extra design time pays off for them, and that they can win races and finish consistently on the podium in 2012. 

Picture Copyright © Mercedes AMG F1