Mercedes tweaks name for 2012

The team ran as Mercedes GP Petronas
this season © Getty Images

Mercedes will be known as the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team in 2012.

The addition of AMG is a move to include the performance brand of the Mercedes-Benz company, with the Mercedes AMG brand already the most successful in DTM racing. Team principal Ross Brawn said that the new name signalled the desire of Mercedes to be even more competitive next season.

"We are very proud to reveal our new team name today," Brawn said. "It adds another strong performance element to our team's identity and, by virtue of being shared between Brackley and Brixworth, will forge even stronger links within our team. At the factory, we have been focused for some time on the challenge of 2012, and our very clear ambition to move forward up the grid next year."

At the same time as announcing the name tweak, Mercedes announced that it would not run its new car until the second pre-season test in Barcelona on February 21, and Brawn said that would allow the team further time to find performance.

"As always, the winter development and manufacturing processes are a trade-off between time for finding performance in the factory, and time for delivering that performance during pre-season testing. We believe that the decision to run the car at the second winter test is the optimum compromise for our design and development programme with F1 W03."

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