(Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team)
The first Formula One track action gets underway in just one
week when the team’s pitch up at the Jerez circuit in Spain for the first of
three four day winter test sessions.
The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 Team are once again expected to
be the team to beat in 2015 following their extremely dominant 2014 campaign
which saw the Silver Arrows win both the Drivers and Constructors championship.
Nico Rosberg, who finished runner up to team mate Lewis
Hamilton last season expects the pair to be fighting for the championship once
again this season and believes that as it takes time to settle into a new team
that Sebastian Vettel is unlikely to mount a challenge to Mercedes this season
after the German joined Scuderia Ferrari from Infiniti Red Bull Racing over the
winter and will drive alongside Kimi Raikkonen.
The Williams Martini Racing Team became the first outfit to
reveal images of their 2015 car which was published in the latest edition of F1
Racing Magazine on Wednesday morning.
On the same day the Sahara Force India
Formula One Team were in Mexico City to reveal their new 2015 livery.
The next team to unveil their new car will be the McLaren
Honda Formula One Team who will launch their new MP4-30 at the McLaren
Technology Centre in Woking on Thursday before Scuderia Ferrari follow suit on
Friday.
The first test is used as way of teams to shakedown their
new cars with the exception of the Sahara Force India Formula One Team it is
expected that all of the teams will run their 2015 cars next weekend.
The
Silverstone based outfit have instead decided to spend more time in the Toyota
wind-tunnel in Cologne, Germany before unveiling the VJM08 at the Circuit de
Barcelona Catalunya ahead of the second test.
The Lotus and McLaren Formula One Team’s will have their new
power units in Jerez as McLaren begin their partnership with Honda while the
Lotus F1 Team begin life with Mercedes power.
So the opening test won’t really
give us the opportunity to gauge the performance of the new cars as it will be
used for collecting data and making sure the new cars are reliable.
McLaren have already run their new power unit, however the
Lotus F1 Team have not run their new power unit so it will be interesting to
see how the Enstone based outfit get on during this test.
Ferrari will be hoping to put their extremely disappointing
season in 2014 behind them and will be looking to hit the ground running.
The Italian team have made many changes over the winter not
least bringing in four time world champion Sebastian Vettel who replaces
Fernando Alonso who has joined Jenson Button at the McLaren Honda team.
Ferrari also have a new Team Principal with Maurizio
Arrivabene joining the team from Philip Morris. So it won’t be until the second
test of the winter at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya from February 19 – 22.
© Ben Johnston 2015
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