Last year the World Constructors Champions Mercedes had teased fans with a sneak peek of their new W08 car ahead of the official launch at 12.10pm on Thursday 23rd February.

Cropped images of the 2017 challenger were posted on their website, showing a sleek model with vivid blue and green stripes before the February shakedown at a very wet and windy Silverstone. Afterwards the team officially launched the car via an online video feed. The day before on the 22nd, Lewis Hamilton’s 2017 helmet design competition winning design had been revealed.

This year, Mercedes have decided to do the same for the launch of the 2018 car along with a similar helmet competition; this time for Valtteri Bottas’ design using the hashtag #freshcoatofpaint.

TJ13 understands that the same timeline will be employed this year. Further, the competition winning helmet design will be revealed on the 22nd of February 2018. Indications are that it’s likely that the following day will again be employed to reveal the car to the public for the very first time, depending on reliability factors. The team intend to run the car around the historic circuit of Silverstone yet again before revealing the challenger officially.