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Rosberg Will Debut Mercedes W02 in Valencia

Mercedes GP will be one of the teams that will kick off the winter testing next month with its brand new F1 car, the W02. While some teams have chosen to wait a little longer until their 2011-spec car's debut in the month of February, Ross Brawn managed to get things done by the end of January and will have his new car ready to make track debut from the first day of next month.

Just like in 2010, the first on-track show of the W02 single-seater will fall in the hands of Nico Rosberg, the youngest of the two Germans comprising Mercedes GP's lineup in 2011. The info was revealed by the very 25-year old racer while speaking at the Fashion Week in Berlin.

I am going first,” admitted the German driver, while revealing that getting the chance to try out the new car first is “something special.”

It will be interesting to see how it (the W02) feels. You know pretty quickly how good it is going to be,” he added, according to the DPA news agency.

Furthermore, he told the media that the test days will be equally and fairly split between him and teammate Michael Schumacher throughout the upcoming 4 group tests. 42-year old Schumacher is apparently scheduled to take the wheel of the car the very nest day, on February 2nd. In all, there are 15 days of testing for each F1 team, as follows: Valencia (3), Jerez (4), Barcelona (4) and Bahrain (4).

Talking about his expectations from the new challenger, Rosberg insisted that no one should expect Mercedes to blow the competition, but showed confidence in the development path for the W02.

It is probably unrealistic to go into the season saying we will win the championship, but we will succeed sooner or later. We are on the right track,” he concluded.
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