The sun was beating down on the Jerez circuit, as drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton turned up suited and booted to reveal the car they will be driving in 2013. The new F1 W04 was uncovered, looking very similar to its predecessor in terms of colours, but of course, not featuring the stepped nose.

The most notable change, aside from the tweaked Coanda exhaust and the pointed nose, was the introduction of a large Blackberry sticker on the bodywork, as Mercedes revealed a new partnership with the telecommunications company at the same time. Ross Brawn was, in the press release, particularly keen on the Blackberry 10 platform, so presumably when that arrives, everyone in Brackley will be carrying new devices.

Meanwhile, back to the launch, and the car. New Executive Director Toto Wolff hasn't had long to get to grips with everything, but he certainly seems to have formed an early opinion.

In the fortnight since I joined the team, I have been impressed by what I have found. The people are highly motivated, open-minded and determined to succeed. Our drivers are hungry for success, too, and it will certainly be fascinating this season to see how Nico and Lewis perform together. Ultimately, though, Formula One is very straightforward and the only thing that counts is lap time.

- Toto Wolff, Executive Director

He's right there, and Mercedes will be keen to push on from their lacklustre end to the 2012 season. With Nico Rosberg winning the team's first race in China, and Lewis Hamilton coming on board from a championship-worthy competitor, Mercedes need to start seeing results.

The team specifically point out the changes on their car, which is still an evolution of the 2012 machine. There's a "new five-element front wing design and a second-generation Coanda exhaust at the rear." With pushrod suspension at the front, and pullrod at the back, the team are hoping to make the car a little easier on its tyres - something previous driver Michael Schumacher was quite vocal about. Team Principal Ross Brawn is proud of the hard work the team have put in.

The restructuring we undertook at the team over the past 18 months are now growing in maturity and this is reflected in the F1 W04, which is a clear step forward in design and detail sophistication over its predecessor. Many thousands of hours of work have been invested by our technical teams in Brackley and Brixworth to ensure that the new car delivers a step change in performance compared to last season.

- Ross Brawn, Team Principal

He also claimed the driver lineup to be the strongest in Formula One, which is something that would be very much open for debate. The pair, Nico and Lewis, seemed very happy with the unveiling of the car today, and will get to experience the machinery much more as the pre-season testing progresses over the rest of the month.