Hamilton chases eighth F1 title with Mercedes W14

Mercedes hopes the W14 will boost their hopes of returning to proper championship contention given the struggles they have had with the W13 variant of their design, and with confirmation of the reveal race fans across the world can begin drawing up their comparisons of the various merits given that week will also see launches by Alpine, McLaren, Ferrari and Aston Martin.

Mercedes fall from grace has been severe since the introduction of their last car and few at the likes of Kasinot would have seen that coming - having won 15 out of 16 championships during the first eight years of the hybrid engine era, the W13 was beset with problems and issues for drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell and the car only delivered one grand prix victory and given the porpoising issues they suffered many had wondered if they would ditch the sidepod concept and move closer to Red Bull's winning formula.

Fans will undoubtedly be hoping for further news given they usually give the new design a complete shakedown at Silverstone and the team have confirmed that this year's release will be a 'special digital launch event broadcast live from Silverstone' on February 15.

A full statement from the Team explained: "The team's 2023 season will burst into life on Wednesday 15 February. The Mercedes-AMG F1 W14 E Performance, forged from the challenges of the testing 2022 campaign, will break cover at a special digital launch event broadcast live from Silverstone.

"The 2023 car builds on the lessons learned from last year, which forced the team to confront and overcome numerous challenges with the W13.

"The progress enabled by the efforts and determination of everyone at Brackley and Brixworth helped achieve stronger results from mid-season onwards, culminating in a 1-2 finish at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix."

Hamilton and Russell will certainly be hoping that the bouncing issues have now been solved and that they can mount their challenge from the first race and not just the midpoint of the season this time around, and given the finish to the 2022 year, there is good reason for optimism that they will pick up where they eventually left off, will further improvements made on top.

The 2023 schedule for new F1 car and livery reveals are as follows:

The three race teams yet to announce their reveal are Red Bull, Alfa Romeo and Haas.

Despite Max Verstappen's dominance last term, Hamilton will be hoping he can finally grab his record eighth drivers title, as well as building on what looks like it has the makings of a very good working partnership with Russell given their debut year together.

Formula 1 pre-season testing begins in Bahrain between February 23-25, and then the season gets properly underway at the same venue on March 5. Hamilton and Mercedes fans will be watching on eagerly.