Mercedes gear up for three-in-a-row as Hamilton ponders title No.4
WORLD champions Mercedes have unveiled the car they hope will fire them to a hat-trick of consecutive Formula One titles.
Lewis Hamilton, winner of the last two driver championships, is bidding to become the first Briton to claim four titles, while his team will aim to strengthen their stranglehold on the sport, which has seen them triumph in 32 of the last 38 races.
And with few changes to the sport’s technical regulations over the winter, the Silver Arrows will begin the season, which starts in Melbourne on March 20, as the favourites.
The W07, similar in appearance to its all-conquering predecessor, will be officially rolled out at the Circuit de Catalunya today ahead of this week’s four-day winter test.
Hamilton will take to the wheel first with teammate Nico Rosberg taking up testing duties tomorrow.
“While the car may look very similar to its predecessor from the outside – as is inherent within stable regulations – underneath there are quite a lot of mini revolutions,” technical director Paddy Lowe said. “It’s very tough to find performance under a stable set of regulations and we were particularly pleased with how the car turned out in 2015, when we had the same situation.”
McLaren, who last year endured a dreadful campaign, also lifted the lid on their challenger ahead of today’s first winter test.
The famous British team cobbled together a paltry 27 points last term.
And speaking on the eve of the first test, McLaren, sporting a moody black livery, noticeably steered clear of making any outlandish predictions for the new campaign.
Jenson Button, who put his retirement plans on hold to enter a 17th F1 campaign, said: “Despite the ups and downs we saw last year, there were steady improvements all year long, and that gives us confidence in the design direction we’re taking.”