Mercedes Completes First Full Car-Engine Check of W17
Mercedes completed the first shakedown of the W17 at Silverstone on Thursday, hours after unveiling the car in render form. Using one of its two permitted filming days, the team ran the full chassis-and-engine package for 67 laps — just under the 200 km promotional-day limit — in wet, cold conditions on the Silverstone International Circuit. George Russell and rookie Kimi Antonelli split driving duties; Mercedes ran on Pirelli’s grooved demo tyres and released footage that included shots of team principal Toto Wolff.
Head of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin described the outing as a sensible first step focused on safety, reliability and driver familiarisation, with the team prioritising basic systems checks and baseline data over performance runs.
The session followed Alpine’s engine-only fire-up of Mercedes’ V6 hybrid at Silverstone the previous day and was Mercedes’ first on-track check of the complete car-and-engine combination. Mercedes said it will head to Barcelona to extend running and further acquaint both drivers with the W17 ahead of the pre-season test, Jan 26–30. The FIA granted extra testing scope this winter because chassis and engine rules are changing together for the first time since 2014, and nearly half of the expanded 11-team grid had already completed early shakedowns. Mercedes positioned the Silverstone outing as a cautious, low-speed validation of hardware and software integration — a productive step ahead of broader pre-season running and the season.
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