The 28-year-old, who has switched from McLaren, drove the car for little laps at the Jerez circuit in Spain where pre-season testing starts on Tuesday. The 2008 world champion said: "Feels like we absolutely have some work to do but we were on expression tyres so I can't really get a sense for it.
Mercedes resist last season, starting powerfully and winning the third race of the season before dropping further from the pace as the year went on awaiting by the end of the year they were stressed even to score a point.
Hamilton said: "This year is concerning one step at a time. Finish the first race, receiving on the platform, and then trying to win races." "We have to distribute as a team, of course, but I am not a wonder worker. I'm going to work as firm as I can with the team to make steps onward.
"The target is to advance on last year. Last year they didn't have a sturdy year. "They got one win, but they didn't have sufficient podiums, didn't have anywhere near the achievement they deserved."
Team principal Ross Brawn explain the car as "a clear step forward in design and feature complexity over its predecessor" and said he was expecting "a step change in presentation compared to last season".