Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg, Mercedes W02 launch, Valencia, 2011

Mercedes W02 launched: first pictures

2011 F1 cars

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Mercedes have launched their 2011 F1 car in Valencia. Here are the first pictures of the W02.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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100 comments on “Mercedes W02 launched: first pictures”

  1. Welcome Baby, hope you will be up to our expectation this season!!

    1. Yup exactly my words, probably there will be more expectation on this machine then any other on the grid.

      1. Man i’m dying to see Shumi winning again!!!

        1. Unlike me,he came back for a reason I hope he goes out of F1 (again) by achieving it,the journey starts from today.

          1. Guys, are we going to have lap times today????

        2. Me too, so excited to see him fight for a win if not WDC. :) Go Schumi!!!

        3. Oh Mr JoeBlack, you can’t imagine how I need that, damn! With everyone learning the new tyres (which was Schumi’s archiles heel last year) everyone should now be on par.

          Com’on on Schumi!!!!!

          1. lol no chance nosajm9bys, Nico is going to crush him again this year.

          2. MICHAEL SCHUMACHER IS BACK,speed on wheels!!!!!!!!!!
            GO SCHUMI GO >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

        4. ha ha ha!!!

      2. looks very unique and edge this is a true statement wheather it is fast or not no one knows

    2. Schumi Schumi Schumi Schumi

      1. If McLaren and a 2002 Sauber car got a little naughty behind the garage after dark, THIS would be the lovechild/car. :)

    3. YUCK, awful livery!

  2. Come on Mercedes!

    1. I like the look of the connected section from the bottom of the nose to the top of the front wing very curved, like a sword.

      Don’t see any other team have that style, which I guess is good.

      1. what you see is that the radiators and kers area is very well shaped very aero efficient

      2. The radical air box on this machine would have been great – not sure why they removed it

    2. Nico to win 2011? Ain’t happening, dude!

      1. Your a bit late mate, people been jeering at me for days now which doesn’t phase me one bit… *cries*

        1. Ha! Sorry mate, I’ll be on the blocks next time you come up with a ridiculous “premunition”.

          1. Unlike you I don’t get scared being called wrong, atleast I got the bottle to make a call and not change my mind every grand prix like most people.

            I predcited schumi to win 05, I was wrong.
            I predicted alonso win in 06, he did.
            I predicted Kimi to win 07, he did.
            I predicted Lewis to win in 08, he did.
            I predicted Massa to win in 09, I was wrong.
            I predicted Vettel to win in 10, he did.

            And now I predict Nico will either win or get really close, so save your ridiculous snubs for the end of the season because your guess is as good as mine.

  3. Oh, very nice! My second-favourite after the Renault.

    1. I think I’m going to need a photo of the R31 and the W02 side-by-side for my desktop.

      1. …. That colour leaves me with a headache, and a desire for some minty breath fresheners..

        1. I had the same problem with the R31, craving for toast and marmite lol.

          1. Cravings? I’d say you’re pregnant. Both of you.

          2. It’s yours PM :p

  4. Its nose is shaped a lot like the RB7 at first glance…

    I like the Renault guys having a peak.

    1. A bit less hammerhead shark and more platypus though after getting a better look at it.

    2. I get the impression, someone hit it on the nose and broke it. Nico Rosberg looks to be a bit unimpressed as well.

      Great livery, shame they did not do this for last year, the Petronas colours look a lot better like this.

  5. rear pullrods, eh?

  6. Oh, man, the blog is slow tonight. Feels like it’s 1995 all over again.

    1. whole internet is slow today in terms of updates on cars yesterday was like lightning maybe everyone warn out from yesterdays excitement

      1. Same here hope things go smooth as time goes by.

    2. I think Keith’s first W02 image was the first pic up on twitter and was instantly RT’ed by a bunch of people, so there was a ton of traffic. I finally had to give up and go to bed it was so slow.

  7. That is a properly good looking car…wow! Absolutely loke it. Like the RB7 its rear end is so tightly packaged.

    Also like the livery, a much better use of the Petronas Turquoise.

  8. Whew, and I thought it was just my old computer, or my connection. But I must say, the W02 is an aggressive design. I like it!

  9. the front looks thin, delicate :)

  10. the-muffin-man
    1st February 2011, 8:47

    Pass the bucket please . . . oops too late!!!!

    1. i thought the same, the front end looks… cant even think of words….the livery is not very pretty either(understatement) IMO

    2. I thought the same, the nose and front end … i cant think of words strong enough, and the livery is terrible, “oh well jazz it up, put some green here and there”

      1. sorry it appeared not to have left the comment the first time lol

        1. well they cant run away with the turquoise color as its the company colors of petronas their main sponsor.

  11. That is certainly an improvement in the livery!

    Btw… Are the photo’s placed in the same sequence as they’re made?
    “This is nothing Nico, just cover her up again and walk silently away”

  12. Quite a nice looking car. Looks like they have a pull rod rear suspension on their car as well. So 3 out of the 6 cars launched have a pull rod suspension. What about team lotus .. what are they running?

    My money is on Mclaren having the best looking car, and running a push rod suspension

    1. I am sure team lotus have stated they will have a pull rod suspension in the rear as well.

      1. They have, and its pull rod.

  13. The nose looks very aggressive. The wing mountings are very similar to the Sauber design from last season.

  14. I can’t stand silver. I just about tolerate it on the McLaren. This, for me, is putrid. Opinion.

    1. I guess they go by their traditional silver arrow theme. Merecdes always had a silver paint scheme. Can’t beat their tradition, eh?

  15. Both the car and the livery look spectacular! The turqoise is much better on this car – and the car itself just looks more aggressive…

    1. Yeah, I remember the firt thing I thought when I saw the W01 unveiled: “combine harvester”, largely because of the bulky front end.

    2. An aggressive platypus…

    3. Yeah I agree, It looks great, they really have got a great livery, and the car looks fantastic as well.

  16. The sidepod vanes are very short and there’s no obvious MRW actuator, unless it’s located under the upper wing.

    1. I like the way these vanes dissepeared. Lets hope the rest of the teams do away with them as well.

      1. I do wonder if they intend to attack and slash tyres with it though, sharp as it looks. But having it go away seems an improvement to me too – although they also started without them last year, didn’t they?

    2. The wing does seem to have hinges, it might indeed be under the wing – but there is also a panel in the middle of the main rear wing profile: they could attach something there, instead of merely adding a wing-blower device like I expect them to at some time in the season.

      1. Yes there are panels in the middle of both wing elements but the upper wing also has two thick triangular structures at either side that seems to coincide with the D-shaped access panels behind the slots in the endplates, the actuators may be located in the sides there.

  17. If you look at the airbox, the camera is mounted a long way back.. makes me think this isn’t the airbox/engine cover they will end up with. Could see a split box of some sort?

    1. You beat me to it!

  18. Yuck! Have you noticed how far back the camera mount sits?

  19. Hey, is it me or do they seem to have a different adjustable rear wing system?

  20. I love the way the livery is never quite the same from shot to shot. The silver and the green blend into one another quite nicely, and I don’t think I’ve seen two shots with an identical livery because it looks like it changes as the light hits it.

  21. That should make it quite pretty when it gets out on the track. The more I look at this design the more I love it. It reminds me of the un-raced TF110 from last year. It looks like it’s ready to challenge for wins right out of the box!

  22. Whos is the dude with the ridiculous moustache?

    1. Oops.. commented on the wrong page.

  23. Beautiful! Brushed silver and mint looks superb! The nose looks highly aggressive, this car is the best so far.

    (note, yet to look at the Williams, RBR and STR launches)

  24. Why does it have last years front wing and no barge/side mirror boards like every other car. Also i think the colour schemes worse. GRRR, letdown!

    1. Most cars launch with old wings and won’t put on the new ones until they hit the track. I think they don’t have the barge boards because they have such an aggressive design for their sidepods. But if you look, they have a lil’ stubby version of one.

    2. Haha, your name is so last year. W02 is where it’s at these days! ;)

  25. Best looking new car by a nose, literally. Pretty can mean pretty useless but it’d be very unlikely for Ross Brawn to get it wrong twice.

    Great to not be able to call the best team tho it’ll come from either Mercedes, Red Bull, Mclaren, Ferrari with dark horses in Renault and hopefully Williams.

    1. here’s to hoping. I would love Mercedes to make it another 2 drivers into the WDC fight.

  26. i love it being all so low key as well. much more like a racing team and less like an episode of x factor!

  27. Interesting to see this Lotus-Renault guy “inspecting” the rear of the car on the first picture :)

  28. Now this is an aggressive evolution. You can understand why red Bull didn’t do anything radical (why discard something that works) or why Ferrari have practically the same car with bits added from others’ (so they can add even more bits from others’), but Mercedes have really taken the challenge of getting back to race-winning form (in the guise of Brawn) by the horns. I agree with another comment made on the last article, they’re definitely starting to look like Mercedes now rather than butchered Brawn. I expect a race win at least from this one.

    1. Actually, the sidepods look a lot better than on the W01, but I think the Sauber might be tighter at the back, let alone the F150, quite probably the R31, and those seem outclassed by the RB7’s tight rear. So yes, it looks a lot better, especially at the front, but also a bit in the same vein as the others, but maybe less aggressive here and there, apart from the nose.

    2. Absolutely! I couldn’t believe it when I saw these pictures, it’s certainly going to stand out. It’s even better than the rendering looked like.

      Just look at the nose…the sidepods, everything! And the livery is certainly the best so far.

    3. Yes “die Silberpfeile” are really back now but Mercedes seem to have copied the gill-slits from the wrong one! 8))

      http://adamcooperf1.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/img_0090.jpg

      http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3113/2855232508_2c0d37cbfb.jpg

    4. Yer I love the new design, it has that unique Mercedes identity to it now unlike the “Brawnedes” last year.

      Hopefully both drivers can get up and go from the start with Nico getting the world title *fingers crossed*

  29. such a BEAUTY!

  30. I love it just looking at it it looks like a winner might just become a Mercedes fan :L

  31. Best looking car on the grid.

  32. Words cannot express how much better this looks compared to the W01.

  33. Um.. it looks like a duck. I don’t like ducks. Hope Renault will eat this duck (with some apples).

  34. Fantastic looking car!

    Really hope it does much better this season for them. Will be great to see either of them on the podium.

  35. Wow, looking at the nose – the camera mounts almost look like they are acting as another plane; is there any aero benefit to be gained from doing this?

  36. remember when these current rules cars were the ugliest ever? how times change eh!

    1. We are now used to the rear wings I guess, the ‘new’ front wings are sill too wide though!

  37. Where did they put the on board camera?!?

  38. I don’t know why they don’t use shark fin. All the other teams use shark fin.

  39. Wow, best looking car until now for me.

  40. Just. Like. The. Toyota :D

    The livery its brilliant though

  41. IT LOOKS COOL

  42. An utterly beautiful car. All of this year’s cars, with exception of the Force India, have been stunning, but this is the best. Possibly the prettiest F1 car of the last 10 or so years. And if it’s quick, which I PRAY it is, it’ll be fastest in Rosberg’s hand. He’s another bloody good driver that never got a good car, but Schumi’s lost it, but may pick up up his first podium of his return.

    What do you reckon is the prettiest F1 car of recent times?

  43. sid_prasher (@)
    7th February 2012, 17:53

    That’s a pretty car, just hope it is fast. Not too bothered by the livery.

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