Mercedes has become the first team to fire up their 2022 car, with the W13 looking neat and ready to go.
Less than two weeks after the final race of the 2021 season, the German team put out a video on their social media handles on Thursday revealing the first look of the W13 firing up.
The video showed the Mercedes staff at their factory watching the car being subjected to some checks. There was also Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff being updated on everything that was happening via a live video link on a mobile phone.
With no reveals from the rest of the grid, Mercedes became the first team to fire up their 2022 car.
The image was substantial, but it still didn’t reveal anything about the design of the W13. As a result, no one knows what the car will look like.
A new era of @F1 starts right here… ?
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) December 23, 2021
Firing up our 2022 F1 car for the first time – the W13 is ALIVE. ? pic.twitter.com/fphuaVp2dI
Still some work to do
Mercedes have fired up their car a little earlier than expected. Nevertheless, no significant detail has been revealed, which means that no rival team can actually take anything away from the video.
Doing a pre-Christmas fire-up is a little strange, but it is a warning and a statement of intent to the rest of the grid. However, teams will have to wait until February to launch their cars officially.
The new regulations of 2022 will be coming into play from the first race of the season. It is a landmark change for the sport, which means teams can never be overly confident in their cars until the last possible minute.
F1’s first preseason test will take place at Barcelona from February 23-25. It is expected that teams will reveal their cars on that weekend or the week before it.
Read more: Lewis Hamilton informs Mercedes of his decision to stay for the 2022 season