Mercedes technical boss Paddy Lowe has told F1i that the new floor of the W07 Hybrid for 2016 could be the team's secret weapon as they bid to stay out of reach of their rivals for a third consecutive season.
"I’m particularly proud of our floor solution, the large bargeboard area, that we call ‘floor W'," said Lowe.
So far Mercedes is doing its best to keep the new floor under wraps and away from the prying eyes of their rivals, just like all the other teams in the paddock.
"One of the sports this time of year is to wait for the photos from our competitors," agreed Lowe. "We all analyse that to find something that’s new, something we can think of.
"I feel like that our aerodynamics team have come out on top in that little competition," he beamed.
"Forget the racing, forget the performance, it’s just they brought something that looks [mostly] different, which is great, because it would have been much easier for the team to just keep turning the [handle]."
During the eight days of pre-season testing at Barcelona, Mercedes appeared to have the edge on reliability - a last day glitch notwithstanding - but Ferrari looked to have closed the gap in terms of raw speed and performance.
However it won't be until next weekend in Melbourne, Australia that a true baseline for the different levels of competitiveness between Mercedes and the other teams becomes clear.
And there may also be a chance to get a glimpse of the new Mercedes 'floor W' at some point during the first race of the 2016 Formula One season.
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