Mercedes-Benz Caribbean: The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team’s challenger for 2022

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team’s challenger for 2022

Introducing W13, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team’s challenger for 2022

  • A new driver pairing, the return of silver, and significant changes to chassis and Power Unit.
  • Toto Wolff: “A year with an almost seismic change in regulations is exciting for all of us.”
  • Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will complete a 100km ‘shakedown’ today at Silverstone.
  • Additional media assets include technical specifications of our new car, our 2022 press pack and Q&As with Toto Wolff, Hywel Thomas and Mike Elliott.
  • Also, please find attached computer-generated render images of an earlier iteration of the team’s 2022 car, the Mercedes-AMG F1 W13 E Performance.
  • Further rights-free imagery and assets will be made available via media alerts during the day.

As dawn breaks on a brand-new era for Formula One, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team today launched its challenger for the 2022 season – the Mercedes-AMG F1 W13 E Performance. With the sport’s most significant technical regulation change in a generation, the factories at Brackley and Brixworth have been bristling with activity to respond to the challenge and identify every possible opportunity to unlock performance.

After 18 months of hard work, the end result is the W13, a car which is 98% new and freshly designed from tip-to-toe with minimal carry-over from its predecessor. Behind the wheel of the W13 for the 2022 season will be a new driver partnership of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, who graduates from the Mercedes Young Driver Programme to step up to the eight-time world champion Mercedes-AMG works team.

“Ever since work on W13 began, I have seen an excited enthusiasm in our team members like never before, thanks to the scale of opportunity that these technical regulations provide,” said Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. “Towards the end of the year when the car build project truly came together, I felt a deep passion across the whole organisation, not only in the technical arena but across our bases at Brackley and Brixworth who were embracing a mindset of 'we can do this'”. 

“We did pretty well during the last big regulatory change into the hybrid era and performed well when we went from the narrow to the wide cars in 2017. While we have a good track record, my message is clear: we can't rely on past success for this year's performance, but we can rely on our people, our culture, our structure, and our mindset to do the best possible job for 2022”, continued Toto. 

The team’s 2022 challenger will be named the ‘Mercedes-AMG F1 W13 E Performance’, with W13 representing the thirteenth car produced by the Mercedes-AMG works team since re-entering F1 in 2010. The ‘E Performance’ technology label signifies the continued close collaboration between the team and Mercedes-AMG, with the label featuring on all new AMG performance hybrid cars. 

A New Driver Partnership for a New Era

At the wheel of the W13 will be the sport’s most successful driver, seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, partnered by fellow Briton and Mercedes Young Driver Programme graduate George Russell, making his debut for the Mercedes-AMG team in his fourth year in F1. 

Lewis Hamilton enters the 2022 season with 103 wins, 103 pole positions and 182 podiums as he targets a record eighth World Drivers’ Championship. 

“I have never seen him more determined,” said Toto Wolff. “Lewis is the best driver in the world, and he is joined by one of the brightest and most promising of their generation in George. I have no doubt that we can create an environment of partnership between the two, of productivity to develop this new car which will be essential, whilst maintaining a healthy competition that will motivate them and the wider team.”

George Russell joined the Mercedes Young Driver Programme at the start of 2017, following an impressive record in the junior categories, becoming GP3 champion the same year. Over the winter, he has been a regular at the team’s Brackley base, getting reacquainted with some familiar faces.

“George is just getting on with the job. I know he’s had a good winter of training and we’ve seen him in the factory, working on the simulator and with his engineers. This team has always been his home and therefore the transition to driving for us has been very smooth,” continued Toto.

The team benefits from a strong Reserve Driver line-up with reigning Formula E World Champion, Nyck De Vries, continuing to join his Mercedes-EQ Formula E teammate, Stoffel Vandoorne, on the team’s support roster.

With George Russell graduating from the Mercedes junior programme to gain his opportunity as a Mercedes-AMG F1 driver, there is plenty of inspiration to be had for our seven junior programme drivers for 2022: Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Paul Aron, Yuanpu Cui, Luna Fluxa, Daniel Guinchard, Alex Powell and Frederik Vesti. Six of the seven were present at this morning’s W13 launch and all have an exciting challenge ahead of them this season in various categories.

A Return to Silver with Diversity and Inclusion Embedded in the Team’s DNA

With the move to a black livery at the start of the 2020 F1 season, the team made a visible commitment to promoting greater diversity and inclusion within our team and our sport. A considerable amount of study, research and work was subsequently undertaken, culminating later that year in the launch of Accelerate 25: a detailed five-year programme to become a more diverse and inclusive team.

While the black livery reverts to predominantly silver for 2022, the roots of our mission to become a more diverse team have been firmly planted and will continue to bear fruit in the years to come. Accelerate 25 committed the team to ensuring at least 25% of all new team members who joined the team were from under-represented groups until the end of 2025. In year one of the programme, that figure reached 38%. Female employees have risen from 12% to 14% of our workforce and employees from minority ethnic groups have risen from 3% to 6% during 2021. important progress but with recognition of, and commitment to, a long way ahead.

“The black livery was a clear intent and a clear demonstration of our mission to become a more diverse and inclusive team. It has become part of our DNA, but the silver colour of the Silver Arrows is as much our DNA, it's our history. As a team we have grown from the Silver Arrows to slowly becoming a more diverse and inclusive team and therefore our colours going forward will be silver and black,” said Toto Wolff.

Over the past two years, the team has developed long-term partnerships with the Mulberry Schools Trust, the Stemettes and the Association of Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers UK to inspire and motivate people from under-represented groups towards technical careers, through STEM education with the hope they aspire to join Mercedes-AMG F1 in the future. 

“Increasing the diversity of our team isn’t about meeting a quota, it’s about recruiting the very best people regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion and sexual orientation,” explained Toto. “Our work inspiring people who might otherwise think a career in engineering, technology or motorsport isn’t for them will widen the talent pool we have available. A diverse workforce drives performance.”

Digital Channels & Resources: 

Media Site: media.mercedesamgf1.com

Website: mercedesamgf1.com

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