Mercedes said on Monday that their 2012 F1 car will not make its track debut until the second pre-season test in Barcelona.
Silver Arrows opt for factory development rather than track time
Mercedes said on Monday that their 2012 Formula One car will not make its track debut until the second pre-season test in Barcelona.
The four-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya gets under way on February 21, less than one month before the opening race in Australia. The first pre-season test, to be held at Jerez, starts on February 7.
"At the factory, we have been focused for some time on the challenge of 2012, and our very clear ambition to move forward up the grid next year," team principal Ross Brawn explained.
"As always, the winter development and manufacturing processes are a trade-off between time for finding performance in the factory, and time for delivering that performance during pre-season testing.
"We believe that the decision to run the car at the second winter test is the optimum compromise for our design and development programme with F1 W03."
Under new rules for 2012, cars can only take part in testing when they have passed the FIA's mandatory crash tests.
That means teams have to decide whether to maximise development and miss out on testing or push their design process in order to get as much track time as possible.
The new season starts in Melbourne on March 18, which allows Mercedes just eight days of testing before heading for Australia. The third and final pre-season test will also be held in Barcelona between March 1-4.
Deliberate decision
"It's not a big problem, it's a very deliberate decision on our part for a variety of reasons," team CEO Nick Fry said.
"The first one is giving ourselves the maximum amount of time to develop performance and because the two tests are two weeks apart, we believe we are better off spending that additional time on developing the performance side.
"Most of the top teams are now very good at simulation," added Fry.
"You can rest assured that before the car physically hits the track...we will have done a substantial amount of work here at the factory both rig testing the car in its entirety, rig testing parts of the car and also of course working on the driver in the simulator."
Fry, who helped steer the Mercedes team's predecessors Brawn GP to both 2009 titles, pointed out that Brawn had minimal testing and still came out with a championship-winning car.
"We think the time is better invested in development rather than driving physically on the track in the first test," he added.
Mercedes also announced that their official team name would change to Mercedes AMG Petronas to bring in the German manufacturer's performance brand AMG.
The team finished the 2011 season fourth in the constructors' championship with drivers Nico Rosberg and seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher.
