Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug has said that he is sure that other F1 teams will follow their strategy of only introducing their 2012 car at the second pre-season test, in order to maximise design time for the new machine.
Mercedes confirmed on Monday that their new 'W03' car would not make its track debut until the second pre-season test of 2012.
"It is planned for the car to make its official track debut at the second winter test of 2012, on 21 February at Barcelona," a team statement confirmed.
This means that the team will not have their new car for the first four-day test of 2012, scheduled to take place at Jerez from February 7th-10th.
But Haug believes that this tactic will be utilised by more teams in the run up to 2012, given the extra design time it allows a team.
"We can do a lot in those two weeks," he was quoted as saying by Auto Moto und Sport, referring to the gap between the first and second tests.
He added: "I doubt we will be the only ones who will do it that way."
A number of teams, including McLaren and Force India, introduced their new cars late during the 2011 pre-season.
However, those two squads still had three of the four pre-season tests to run their cars at, while the 2012 pre-season will feature just three tests in total.
Teams have agreed to drop three days of their 15-day pre-season allocation in order to run an in-season test at the Mugello circuit in May.
This will leave Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher with just four days apiece in their new car before the start of the season in Melbourne.
The Barcelona test is scheduled to run from February 21st-24th, with a final pre-season test at the same track scheduled from March 1st-4th.
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