P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Mercedes has become the latest team to reveal its new car for 2025, the W16, which it hopes will inspire a return to F1 title contention over the upcoming campaign.
Last week, Mercedes unveiled the W16 design at the O2 in London, which remained largely unchanged from the previous year. Unlike other teams that shared images or ran shakedowns of their 2025 challengers, Mercedes chose to keep the W16 a secret until pre-season testing in Bahrain. This marks a departure from their usual practice of conducting an annual shakedown at Silverstone. The W16 will make its track debut at the Bahrain International Circuit on Tuesday, with George Russell and new teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli driving. Antonelli replaces F1 champion Lewis Hamilton in a new era for Mercedes, which aims to bounce back from a fourth-place finish last season and avoid past setbacks with a more comprehensive winter preparation.
