The W07 was designed under the direction of Paddy Lowe, Aldo Costa, Geoff Willis, Loïc Serra, Russell Cooley, John Owen, Mike Elliott, and Jarrod Murphy. It succeeded the W06 Hybrid, already described as one of the most dominant cars in recent Formula One history, and was described internally as representing "mini revolutions" over its predecessors rather than a wholesale redesign.
The car used the Mercedes-Benz PU106C Hybrid power unit, an evolution of the PU106B introduced during the 2015 Italian Grand Prix. Estimated power output was between 950 and 1,000 horsepower, exceeding the competing Ferrari, Renault, and Honda units. The aerodynamic package carried an evolved S-duct to improve airflow efficiency from front to rear, and the season brought further updates including L-shaped turning vanes under the chassis at the Canadian Grand Prix, front wing fins, a bowl-shaped rear wing intended to reduce drag at high speed, and a transversely mounted hydraulic third suspension element tried at Singapore.
The car was unveiled at Silverstone in an unofficial shakedown on 19 February 2016, before its formal online launch the following day ahead of pre-season testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Over eight testing days, the W07 completed 1,294 laps totalling 6,024 kilometres.
The W07 was unmatched in outright pace for most of the season. The only race in which neither Mercedes driver finished — and the only win that went elsewhere — was the Spanish Grand Prix, where Hamilton and Rosberg collided at the first corner and retired, allowing Max Verstappen to take his maiden victory for Red Bull.
Hamilton and Rosberg locked out the front row at ten consecutive races between Monaco and Singapore. The car set a new record for most wins in a single Formula One season with nineteen, breaking the team's own record of sixteen set in each of the two preceding seasons. Mercedes also set records for most pole positions in a season at twenty, and most podiums in a season at thirty-three.
Despite the car's total supremacy, the season was defined by Hamilton and Rosberg's internal rivalry. Rosberg took early championship leads with wins in Bahrain, China, and Russia — where he achieved a Grand Slam, leading every lap, setting fastest lap, and starting from pole. Hamilton recovered with ten wins of his own, including victories in Canada, Britain, Hungary, Germany, the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. Hamilton's engine failure in Malaysia, while leading, proved decisive: Rosberg took third to extend his championship lead to 23 points with five races remaining.
At the Abu Dhabi season finale, Hamilton needed Rosberg to finish third or lower to take the title. Hamilton led from pole and deliberately slowed the pace to back Rosberg into the pursuing Verstappen and Vettel. Team radio repeatedly instructed Hamilton to push, but he continued at a controlled pace. Rosberg defended to finish second, taking the title by five points — 385 to 380 — claiming his only World Drivers' Championship. Rosberg announced his retirement from Formula One five days later.
The W07 holds several Formula One records as of the mid-2020s, including most pole positions in a season as a percentage of available poles at 95.2 percent (20 from 21 races), and most podium finishes in a single season at 33. Its win ratio of 90.47 percent makes it the third most statistically dominant car in Formula One history, behind the 1988 McLaren MP4/4 at 93.75 percent and the 2023 Red Bull RB19 at 95.45 percent.
The W07 represents the peak of Mercedes' second phase of complete domination — an era when the team won four consecutive doubles from 2014 to 2017. Its defining historical narrative, however, is not the car's engineering performance but the title fight it hosted: a duel between two drivers of equal calibre in identical machinery, resolved by reliability, circumstance, and one extraordinary season finale. Nico Rosberg's retirement immediately after winning, after fifteen years of professional racing, remains one of the most surprising and discussed decisions in modern Formula One history.