Lewis Hamilton and McLaren F1 team-mate Jenson Button at the launch of the McLaren MP4-26 in Berlin [Picture courtesy of www.mclaren.com]

THE new Formula 1 car Lewis Hamilton will drive for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes in 2012 will be revealed next month.

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button at the launch of the McLaren MP4-26 last year [Picture courtesy of www.mclaren.com]

The MP4-27 will break cover on Wednesday, February 1 at a location to be announced.

Last year’s MP4-26 launch with Hamilton and team-mate Jenson Button took place in Berlin, Germany.

Hertfordshire-born F1 racer Hamilton, who celebrates his 27th birthday on Saturday, will get his first chance to test the MP4-27 at Jerez, in Spain, from February 7-10.

After the 2011 season finale in Brazil, former world champion Hamilton said: “I’ll be attacking next season; 2012 will be my year.”

Former F1 world champions Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton with Martin Whitmarsh at the McLaren MP4-26 car launch in Berlin [Picture courtesy of www.mclaren.com]

Speaking after the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos in November, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: “We’ve been concentrating our energies on MP4-27 for some time now, and we’ll maintain that intensive effort throughout the winter months.

“All things considered, 2011 was a pretty decent year for us – we finished second in the constructors’ world championship, 122 points ahead of the third-placed team and 332 points ahead of the fourth-placed team – but we aim to win outright.

“Next season we intend to do just that.”