Mercedes hopes to have made good strides with 2022 engine

"It doesn't necessarily sound like that big a change, but it is quite a significant one in the way the fuel and the PU interact. It has been a good development phase for us and working so closely with our partners, PETRONAS, that collaboration is vital," said top executive Hywel Thomas.

A completely new car, combined with an engine that has been incorporated into the car in yet another way, will take some getting used to for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. According to Mercedes, this year will be all about learning and developing. New things will be learned every weekend.

"The drivers will want the PU to do different things at different times through corners and potentially from one corner to the next, because of the car characteristics. The amount of full throttle time, the way the drivers approach and exit corners, won't be exactly like they used to be and this will have a knock-on to how we harvest energy and deploy it," says Thomas.