Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug has said that the team's decision to delay the introduction of their new W03 car until the second pre-season test of the year will help them make "crucial" final improvements to their design.
The German marque are set to be the only big name F1 team to delay the introduction of their new car until after the first test in Jerez next month.
Mercedes made their decision in order to continue development work of their new car for as long as possible, with the team seeking to make the required breakthrough to challenge for race wins in 2012.
But with only three pre-season tests ahead of the 2012 season, totalling just 12 days of track time, their decision has been seen as something of a gamble.
Nevertheless, Haug has insisted that the team have made the right call, saying that they would now have the time to properly finalise their 2012 car design.
"If you have half-a-year's timeframe to develop a car, then 10 days can be crucial," he bellowed at the Autosport website this week, "That was our decision.
"We want to test the proper car, finalised in each and every detail. That's why we need development time."
He went on: "It's important to point out that it was a conscious decision.
"I know that all of the other teams will be there with their [new] car [at Jerez] but this is not unusual. Other teams that have been in a catch-up process have decided to go run first at the second test, so this is not a new event.
"We fully appreciate that the other teams have different plans and are ready at the first test. But we are not delayed, we are just following our process, and then we will see what the outcome will be."
The only other teams set to delay their new car until after the first test are backmarking duo Marussia and HRT, with the former set to delay their own new car until the third and final test in Barcelona.
But Haug confirmed that Mercedes would attend the first test with their 2011 car, saying that the team could still test out new parts and gather data about the new 2012-spec Pirelli tyres.
"We will have a couple of parts to learn from at the first test," he explained, "We can use the new generation of tyres, which is a good way to draw a baseline because you have the data with the old tyres to compare it to."
Mercedes will launch their new car on February 21st, the first day of the second pre-season test.
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