Reigning champions Mercedes have revealed their 2018 challenger – the W09.
Mercedes revealed their car during an event at the Silverstone circuit, which was attended by Team Principal Toto Wolff, along with drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. After a small delay, Bottas was the first to drive the car around the damp Silverstone track, saying the experience was ‘really special’.
Speaking at the launch, Toto Wolff said he was not impressed with the aesthetics of the new car’s halo. He said:
“I’m not impressed with the whole thing. If you give me a chainsaw, I would take it off.”
Mercedes won their fourth Drivers’ and Constructors’ Titles in as many years in 2017. The team is expected to come under increased pressure from Ferrari and Red Bull for title success in 2018.
After graduating in 2015 with a First Class honours degree in English Language and Literature, Nicky Haldenby, a lifelong fan of Formula 1, founded the Lights Out F1 Blog in 2016. The blog has become a firm fan-favourite, delving deep into the sport’s history books and lifting the cover on unusual F1 statistics. Nicky also writes at F1Destinations, Motorsport Guides and WTF1. In 2017 and 2018, he wrote for Badger GP. Nicky is also the host of the F1 Rewind Podcast and can be heard as the resident stats man on the 2 Soft Compounds Podcast.