Behind the wheel of the Silver Arrow 01, was Mercedes 'sleeper team' HWA Racelab's Stoffel Vandoorne and Venturi's Edoardo Mortara. The 527 km, two-day shakedown was the first outing for the car since it broke cover at the Geneva motor show last month.

“Not only have we reached an important milestone, but we have also laid a solid foundation for further development,” said Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

With a background racing for Mercedes' DTM squad in 2017 and 2018, Mortara stepped in for usual HWA driver Gary Paffett who had other racing commitments.

Day one of testing saw the car complete 50 kilometres (the maximum allowed under the regulations), while the remaining two days were dedicated to collecting and analysing data about the first version of the power unit and the rest of the drive assembly.

“When a new racing car comes to life for the first time and goes out onto the track, that’s always a very special moment,” said Wolff.

"But there is still a lot of work to do before our race debut when the next season starts towards the end of this year.”

Alongside the test, Ian James was confirmed as the Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz Formula E Ltd. Before starting with the team, James gained experience within a number of different positions within the Daimler group.

“We are very pleased with the progress made during our first test with the new car,” said James.

“The first days of testing at Varano were a very important step in the development of our team. We brought together experts from our different sites at Affalterbach, Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart, and at the end of a successful three days, they left as members of a team – it was the birth of the Mercedes-Benz EQ Formula E Team.

"In the coming weeks and months, many more milestones will follow on the way to our first race.”