Mercedes GP Petronas unveils 2010 F1 livery

While many parents get their baby's first set of booties dipped in bronze, Mercedes GP Petronas have gone and dipped their whole new baby in silver. After taking over the Formula One championship-winning Brawn GP team at the end of the 2009 season, Mercedes-Benz renamed the team and got to work on a 2010 car. While that new MGP W01 won't be officially unveiled until testing at Valencia begins, the team has just shown off the car's new livery on the '09 car.

The new color scheme debuted at a special event held at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, and will show up on the new car February 1 in Valencia. The new liquid metal hue recalls the classic Silver Arrows grand prix cars of Mercedes and Auto Union from Germany's glory days of racing. And hard as it is to believe, it's been 55 years since Mercedes had its own racing team.

The MGP W01 will be piloted by Nico Rosberg and some guy named Mike during the 2010 season. Seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher will of course be rejoining team boss Ross Brawn, reviving a partnership that resulted in seven World Championship trophies for Schumi before his retirement in 2006.

[Source: Autosport | Images: Mercedes-Benz]