Mercedes press release Following the signature of the commercial agreement with FOM this week by Mercedes-Benz, the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team is pleased to announce that Lewis Hamilton has signed a three-year agreement to race for the team from the 2013 Formula One season. Lewis’ career has been supported by Mercedes-Benz and McLaren since its earliest days. In 2000, he and Nico Rosberg were team-mates at TeamMBM.com in Formula A karting. Lewis drove with Mercedes-Benz engines during his two seasons in the Formula […]

F1 cars could be fitted with a mandatory engine cover 'shark fin' next year. The move would be designed to help television viewers and trackside spectators easier identify the drivers, in the era of deep cockpits and ever-changing helmet designs. Mercedes tested the 'shark fin' solution at the recent Magny Cours test. On the German squad's test car, the shark fin featured the drivers' race number, his national flag and his three-letter F1 initial. "The teams have been working for some time on how to […]

Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg will start the Singapore Grand Prix from the fifth row of the grid after electing not to set a lap time in Q3. Team principal Ross Brawn admitted that the Silver Arrows decided not to set a lap time in order to choose what tyres to start the race from. "I am reasonably pleased with our qualifying result, considering what we have seen this weekend", said Michael Schumacher. "Of course, we could have tried to make up one or two […]

Ross Brawn has revealed he is not planning to retire for at least a few more years. The 57-year-old, who soared to success in past decades as a leading engineer at Benetton and Ferrari, is now the team boss at Mercedes, three years after selling the title-winning 'Brawn GP' outfit in 2009. And amid rumours Lewis Hamilton could switch to the Brackley based camp for 2013, Brawn has told the Daily Mail he is not going anywhere for now. "I am not planning to retire […]

Mercedes gave its new 'triple DRS' system a second outing at Magny Cours on Tuesday. During the recent Belgian grand prix weekend, we reported that the German squad had upped the ante on its innovative 'double DRS' concept of 2012 by testing what could be described as a 'triple DRS' iteration. Mercedes pioneered the straightline speed-boosting idea, but at recent grands prix Lotus has been trying to get a development of the concept up and running. The 'triple DRS' is Mercedes' answer to the Lotus […]

Forget double-DRS, Mercedes has reportedly upped the ante and debuted a 'triple-DRS' concept at Spa. The German squad pioneered the straightline speed-boosting idea this year, and at recent grands prix Lotus has been trying to get a similar system up and running. Mercedes has now taken the next step, according to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. The publication on Saturday christened the Brackley based team's new idea 'triple-DRS'. Nico Rosberg reportedly tested the new configuration - with the aerodynamics stalling at high speed in no […]

Mercedes' 2012 car is good enough to be the basis of next year's silver challenger, team boss Ross Brawn has revealed. Although Nico Rosberg won April's Chinese grand prix from pole, and Michael Schumacher set the fastest qualifying lap in Monaco, the W03 has otherwise delivered a mixed performance. The Brackley based team, world champions in 2009 as 'Brawn GP', is fifth in the constructors' standings at present, 26 points ahead of Sauber and more than 80 behind Ferrari. But Brawn told Brazil's O Estado […]

McLaren, Mercedes and Force India are all struggling with excessive tyre wear this year. And according to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, the likely culprit is the trio's common engine supplier. "Lotus, Red Bull and Ferrari can make a set of tyres last longer than we can," said McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. Auto Motor und Sport said one theory doing the rounds is that the superior mid-range power of Mercedes' V8 engine is wearing the rear Pirelli tyres too much. "On the way out of corners, […]

Martin Whitmarsh has flagged his intention to step down as president of the teams association FOTA. The union was created in the heat of the Max Mosley political war in 2008, with McLaren team boss Whitmarsh then taking over from FOTA's first chairman, Luca di Montezemolo, at the end of 2009. Since then, the group has fractured, with Ferrari, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Sauber and HRT all no longer listed as members on the official FOTA website. And in a report by Dieter Rencken and […]

Ross Brawn talks about Michael Schumacher's future and the season so far.

The Hungarian Grand Prix weekend has gone from bad to worse for Michael Schumacher who retired from the race on Lap 58 after stalling on the grid, getting a penalty and having a puncture. It’s the sixth retirement of the season so far for the Mercedes driver. The seven-time world champion had to start from pitlane due to a misunderstanding over the race start delay. Schumacher explained he saw yellow lights and turned off his engine while the rest of the field left for an […]

A three-stop strategy worked well for Nico Rosberg but cost Michael Schumacher dearly. Rosberg started 21st and was able to move up to tenth by the end and grab the final point on offer, whereas Schumacher started third but could do no better than seventh. While their rivals did two stops, Mercedes did three, going into the race believing they would have to do one extra to combat the excessive degradation afflicting the Mercedes. “There are nicer ways to finish a home race than falling […]