Mercedes reveal the F1 W07 Hybrid

Mercedes have released pictures of the car with which they will defend their drivers' and constructors' championship double in 2016 - the F1 W07 Hybrid.

The new car, which Mercedes say features a number of 'mini revolutions' over its predecessor, underwent a shakedown test at the UK's Silverstone circuit on Friday.

It will make its official track debut on Monday at the start of pre-season testing in Barcelona, Spain, with reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton and team mate Nico Rosberg sharing driving duties over the four-day session.

“After a highly successful season all round in 2015, our priority has been to identify the areas in which we were weakest and to try to improve on those,” said Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe of the F1 W07.

“Our objective is excellence in all areas and, while we had some fantastic results last year, there are many areas in which we can still be much better. We had a number of races that didn't go to plan in 2015 - Singapore in particular - so there were a lot of things that needed improving for 2016. We are seeking optimisation absolutely everywhere.”

Despite the F1 regulations remaining largely unchanged for 2016, and Mercedes’ already high level of performance last year - they won all bar three races - Lowe insists the team have still found many areas of potential performance gain.

“We aim to make minor revolutions wherever we can - even within a small context,” he added. “So, while the car may look very similar to its predecessor from the outside - as is inherent within stable regulations - underneath there are quite a lot of mini revolutions that make up an overall evolution for the new season.”

With the team’s power unit too, development over the winter has been all about incremental increases in performance and reliability.

“To get the performance out of this new generation of Power Units, you need to chase efficiency,” explained engine chief Andy Cowell. “That's both combustion efficiency and efficiency in the various energy transition steps - i.e. MGU-H, MGU-K, turbocharger, power electronics and batteries.

“We're constantly working on every single piece of the puzzle to improve performance at the crankshaft, while also seeking to ensure we don't suffer any of the problems we had last year with reliability.”

The other three teams on the grid using Mercedes engines - Williams, Force India and, new for 2016, Manor - will also benefit from the latest improved power unit.

"All eight Mercedes-powered cars will have exactly the same hardware and performance potential come Melbourne - which is a good step for everyone," added Cowell.