Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss Nobert Haug says Mercedes GP is making the steps that are needed to eventually get itself to the front of the Formula 1 grid. Haug feels that the team has learned valuable lessons over the past two seasons that should help it make good progress.
"We are in the building-up process," said Haug as his team unveiled its new W03 at Barcelona on Tuesday. "We have been two times fourth in the last two years and our ultimate goal is to move up the ladder and go in the ultimate direction of first place. It takes time and a lot of effort, but we are working very hard and ultimately we can achieve it.
"We want to climb up the ladder. To beat Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren-Mercedes is quite a task, but we want to achieve that. We are still a young team, we need to learn and I think our learning process is under way. My feeling is we are heading in the right direction."
The W03 features the stepped nose that is common in F1 this year, but is more sculpted than other designs.
"I think our designers did a good job," he said. "With these stepped noses you need to get used to it, but wait and see. After a while, the car that is winning races looks good, and I think our new Silver Arrow is a pleasant and nice car."
Mercedes GP elected to skip the first preseason test at Jerez in order to give itself more development time for the W03, which has already had a shakedown test at Silverstone and a full day of running at Barcelona. It joins the second preseason test at Barcelona this week.