Whilst the Mercedes W06 looks visually different to its title-winning predecessor, mainly thanks to a reprofiled nose, the vast majority of developments are under the bodywork according to technical boss Paddy Lowe.
The team are hoping to defend their crown this season and head into the year as clear favourites after dominating 2014.
Lowe is confident the W06 will be a step above the W05 with improvements coming in a number of areas.
“There is a lot of novelty on this car, absolutely,” he explained to the official F1 website. “We have found performance in a number of areas.
“Overall it is an evolution of last year’s car because the rules aren’t too different, but here or there we’ve been able to make minor revolutions.”
Apart from the new slimmer nose, Lowe reckons fans will struggle to find major changes elsewhere, with the vast majority of development happening under the bodywork.
“Aside from the nose, which has been one of our big topics for our winter aero programme, people looking at the car won’t see enormous differences. Underneath though, there is a lot of change.
“We needed to achieve that because our competitors will have done the same. You only have to look at your old cars to realise how quickly things can age in Formula 1. That’s the nature of innovation and development. So you have to keep pushing in every single area – and sometimes we surprise ourselves.”
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