Mercedes join the other Formula One teams for a final round of pre-season testing from Thursday onwards as the team aims to take the next step towards the ambition of winning the world title in 2014.
“Normally you don't see a leap from four to one, but we want to start the countdown: four, three, two, one,” Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug said this week.
Coming off fourth-place finishes in the first two seasons, Haug now hopes to climb one up with drivers Nico Rosberg and record world champion Michael Schumacher in the 2012 campaign.
The final round of testing over four days takes place in Barcelona and the 20-race season opens on 18 March in Australia.
Haug is optimistic that they can attack the top three of Red Bull, Mclaren and Ferrari because Mercedes has shown in the past what it is captable of, winning four world titles as engine partners of McLaren and Brawn in the past 12 years.
Mercedes bought the Brawn team after Jenson Button's success in 2009 and now wants to deliver as a works unit.
The team skipped the first tests in Jerez to have more time to prepare the new car, and looked good last week in Barcelona, which adds to Haug's optimism that everything can finally fall into place this year.
“Our engine is said to be the best. Our KERS is said to be the best. Now we want to achieve that with our car as well,” he said.
The improved package also appears to boost Rosberg, who finally wants to get his first race win.
“I am convinced that this team will become the best. My first Grand Prix victory in a silver arrow would be great. It it will come soon,” he said.
Rosberg, 26, has 108 Grands Prix and took three podiums in 2010, but none last season. He is the future of Mercedes and Haug has heaped praise on him.
“Experts rate Nico among the top five, some even top three,” said Haug.
The assessment is extraordinary, given that the 2012 field boasts six world champions, including Schumacher, who has finished behind Rosberg in both seasons since his return from retirement in 2010 and has failed to make the podium in the period.
Schumacher's three-year contract expires after the season, and it is unclear whether the 43-year-old, whose records include seven world titles, 91 race wins and 68 poles, will continue. -Sapa-dpa