After two weeks of testing incorporating eight test days and 64 test hours, the Mercedes Formula One team team has completed the winter tests with the new Silver Arrow.
New team member Valtteri Bottas posted 628 laps, driving the new F1 W08 EQ Power+ at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the equivalent of 2,923 km or the race distance of ten Spanish Grands Prix.
This was a perfect technical rehearsal for the Finn, who posted more kilometres over the winter than any other driver.
His team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, completed a further 468 laps, bringing the team's tally up to 1,096 laps (5,102 km or the equivalent of 16 complete races).
No team put in more kilometres in Barcelona than the Silver Arrows.
However, the new F1 W08 EQ Power+ did not post test kilometres in isolation in Spain. The Mercedes-AMG F1 M08 EQ Power+ Power Unit was also utilised by customer teams Force India and Williams. In total, the three Mercedes-powered teams posted 2,681 laps which equates to 12,480 km. The fact that all three teams in Barcelona finished among the Top Five in the kilometre stakes, completing the most laps of all four engine manufacturers, is testament to the fine work of everyone at Mercedes-AMG High-Performance Powertrains in Brixworth.
The kilometre figures are all the more impressive considering the stresses and strains that the brand-new Silver Arrow was exposed to. During testing, more than 17,500 turns were taken, 49,000 gear changes made, 70 sets of Pirelli tyres used, 43,840,000 shots of Petronas Primax fuel injected and 4,384 MJ of energy produced by the MGU-K.
These are absolutely incredible stats, but that's enough of playing around with numbers for now! The moment will soon be upon us, in around ten days, when the lights go out for the first time this season in Melbourne's Albert Park.
