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Merc brings out '12 Silver Arrow

BARCELONA, Spain - The Mercedes Formula 1 team has at last unveiled its Silver Arrow F1 W03 cars for the 2012 GP season.

Team drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher unveiled the car ahead of testing at the Catalunya circuit in Barcelona on February 21.

Rosberg, whose three third-place finishes from the 2010 season stand as the best results the team has achieved since returning to the sport as a works team and who tested the car in England on February 16, said the team had had a great start to the 2012 testing programme.

'WE CAN BE PROUD'

"It was a great feeling to drive the first laps in the new F1 W03. We've been able to focus on understanding the car and making good progress with our test programme," the German said. "It will be very interesting to learn more about where we stand in the next few weeks."

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn said at the launch that he believed the team would achieve good results with the new car. "The F1 W03 is a car of which I believe, and hope, our team can be proud and which will deliver the track results that everybody has worked so hard to achieve.

"In 2011 we produced a very bold car and, although its more radical elements did not always deliver the results we had hoped for, the experience we gained has been invaluable to the design of the 2012 car."

'INSTANT SENSATIONS'

Multiple World champion Michael Schumacher, who is considering extending his contract which will expire at the end of the current season, said he had a good feeling about the car.

"Last week, when we were driving the W03 for the very first time, it instantly gave us good feedback and sensations," he explained. "We will only see over the next couple of weeks how big a step we have made."

The 2012 season will start in Australia on March 18. Schumacher hoped tt would be successful. "I'm eager to fight again, looking forward to the new season, and I can't wait for it to begin."
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