Mercedes-AMG W06 Hybrid - Silver Arrow Meets White Weather

Mercedes-AMG W06 Hybrid

With Lotus, Williams and Force India out of the bag, so to speak, the last Mercedes-powered car left to see before the 2015 season starts is the works car itself. Well, while Twitter was bickering about McLaren-Honda liveries, Mercedes were busy getting on with the first shakedown test of their new W06 Hybrid at Silverstone, with both Nico Rosberg and reigning world driver's champion Lewis Hamilton present to put in a total of 18 laps, before wet snow put an end to proceedings. This is both the first and last time this car will ever be anywhere near snow in its entire lifetime.

The new car is merely an evolution of the all-dominant W05 from 2014, a car which smashed all the F1 records a car can smash. Most wins, most 1-2 finishes, probably most pole positions, it just went on. So, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Well, past form is no guarantee of future success, so there are subtle evolutions in each area of the car, most noticeably a tapering nose replacing the uniform-width nose which is no longer up to the regulations. Last year's nose was arguably the cleanest on the grid, so their Lotus-style solution is a welcome sight after seeing the Williams and Force India's "thumb tip" noses. With 2015 being very much an evolutionary year in terms of the regulations, the fastest teams ought to stay at the sharp end, so expect to see a lot more of this car when the five red lights go out in Melbourne and beyond.

Images from F1Fanatic.

All hail the new Mercedes! Oh, er, I didn't mean like that: