Mercedes are set to debut their radical new nose design at the Chinese Grand Prix in a bid to move further ahead of the F1 field.
Whilst the nose will be on the car for the first time in China, the team had actually hoped to race it in Australia, but it failed to meet the FIA’s mandatory crash test ahead of the race weekend.
It was revised and tested again ahead of the Malaysian GP, but once again failed. Then it failed again ahead of the Bahrain GP, but after some changes, the nose has finally been declared safe should Nico Rosberg or Lewis Hamilton suffer a frontal impact.
Mercedes chairman Toto Wolff revealed that the shorter nose – which according to sources is far shorter than any nose on the grid – was actually the nose they hoped to debut with.
“The car was designed for the short nose,” said the Austrian. “What we have had until now has been only a stopgap.”
It’s hoped the design will provide a relatively large step forward, hence why Mercedes have devoted so much resource to ensuring it makes it onto the W05.
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