Mercedes To Stay In F1 Despite Shifting Focus To Electric Road Cars

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Mercedes has announced plans to develop only an electric car platform from 2025 and exclusively sell zero-emissions vehicles “where market conditions permit” by the end of the decade. Meanwhile, Formula 1 cars will not leave the internal combustion engine so as soon as the new regulations take effect from the 2026 season it will still cover the old ICE.

The 2022 F1 car runs on E10 fuel, which represents a mixture of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent fossil fuels. Come 2026 – when Porsche and Audi will join forces in the world’s largest motorsport competition – combustion engines will switch completely to renewable synthetic fuels. Through the voice of its CEO Ola Källenius, Mercedes said car the German luxury brand has “decided to take this decarbonization journey – it’s the only decision you can make – and the same goes for Formula 1.”

The head of the three-pointed star honcho went on to say that although the 2026 F1 car will still have a combustion engine, ICE “will be used as a laboratory to develop CO2-free fuels.” For now, Källenius says battery technology isn’t mature enough to race at a venue like the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi that runs on electricity only. However, he stressed about being CO2-free while still having a combustion engine by adopting synthetic fuels.

When asked by car On the potential merger of Formula 1 and Formula E, Mercedes officials declined to give a direct answer: “I don’t want to speculate about that. All I know is that Formula 1 will always be the pinnacle of motorsports.” We know AMG is working on its first dedicated electric platform for street legal cars. The Vision AMG concept will open on May 19 ahead of the next production car scheduled for 2025.

The most direct connection between F1 and street cars today is represented by the AMG One. Originally shown as a concept in September 2017, the electrified hypercar will enter production in the middle of the year after several delays caused by development bottlenecks. Only 275 cars will be produced with a turbocharged 1.6-liter engine taken from the company’s championship-winning F1 car. With four electric motors on tap, the rival Aston Martin Valkyrie will have over 1,000 horsepower.

Its mid-mount V6 will spin up to 11,000 rpm and feature e-turbo as has been seen on the recently launched AMG C43 2023. Unsurprisingly, an F1-sourced ICE would be a fragile machine by road car standards considering it would have to be rebuilt every 50,000 kilometers (about 31,000 miles). There should be an electric mode too, taking into account that the Project One concept is touted to have an EV range of 16 miles (25 kilometers).

Mercedes-AMG hasn’t revealed the production-ready One yet, so we expect to see it in the coming weeks or months.

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