With a little over four weeks to go until the start of the 2019 FIA Formula One season, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport today completed the first laps with its 2019 challenger. Its name is Mercedes-AMG F1 W10 EQ Power+. The 2019 contender ran on the 2.98 km Silverstone International Circuit this morning with Valtteri Bottas behind the wheel. Lewis Hamilton will drive this afternoon.
New year. New look. Same target ?#WelcomeW10! ✨✨✨ pic.twitter.com/hrIZLNdLO2
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) February 13, 2019
“The 2019 season will be a new challenge for all of us,” said Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO. “The regulations have changed quite substantially. We have to start from scratch, we need to prove ourselves again – against our own expectations and against our competitors. We start the season with zero points. So we’re taking nothing for granted and there’s absolutely no feeling of entitlement to be at the front. In fact, with the regulation change for the new season, every team can have a shot at the title and we’r e seeing all of them as a potential threat.”
Today’s running constitutes an official 100 km filming day for Mercedes
The team also uses it as a final systems check before the first pre-season test in Barcelona.
“We’re eager to hit the ground running in Barcelona, to benchmark ourselves against our own simulations and see if our predictions materialise on track,” said Toto. “We will focus on ourselves, building up performance and hopefully be ready when the first really competitive session starts on Saturday in Melbourne.”
