Mercedes is targeting a track debut for its championship-defending W07 car in the days before the opening winter test in Barcelona.
That is the claim of the Spanish sports daily Marca, reporting rumours that the German team is planning a ’filming day’ for the new silver machine at Silverstone on February 15.
That is exactly a week before the official winter action kicks off in Spain, although three teams - Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren - are helping Pirelli to develop wet-weather tyres this week at Paul Ricard.
Marca said it will be Nico Rosberg rather than the reigning triple world champion Lewis Hamilton who drives the W07 for the first time at Silverstone.
Team technical boss Paddy Lowe, however, said even he is yet to actually lay eyes on the W07.
"You won’t see it yet," he said in a Mercedes video. "Even I haven’t seen it.
"This is the miracle of a F1 team in January and February. There’s nothing, nothing, nothing and suddenly in about 2 days, a car starts to arise."