New Mercedes to debut at second test

Mercedes on Monday announced that its 2012 car, the W03, will not make its track debut until the second pre-season test in late February, at the Barcelona track.

F1’s pre-season test period kicks off two weeks earlier, at Jerez, where Mercedes will presumably be running with its 2011 single seater.

"At the factory, we have been focused for some time on the challenge of 2012, and our very clear ambition to move forward up the grid next year. As always, the winter development and manufacturing processes are a trade-off between time for finding performance in the factory, and time for delivering that performance during pre-season testing. We believe that the decision to run the car at the second winter test is the optimum compromise for our design and development programme," said team boss Ross Brawn.

The news came as Mercedes announced that it is adding the acronym ’AMG’ - its high-performance arm - to its official name in 2012.

"We are very proud to reveal our new team name (Mercedes AMG Petronas) today," said Brawn.