Mercedes is heading to this weekend's United States Grand Prix with a one-off blue livery as the team hopes that its driver Kimi Antonelli will clinch the Formula 1 world championship on Sunday.
Developed with MANUFAKTUR, the Mercedes brand's personalisation programme, the design swaps the W17’s usual silver for blue. The nose of the car really shows off the new colour.
MANUFAKTUR is the service that lets Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Maybach customers personalise their road cars with bespoke paint, materials and handcrafted touches. About half of the cars Mercedes sells in the US are ordered with at least one MANUFAKTUR feature.
On top of this, George Russell will wear a vintage blue race suit and Antonelli a steel blue one, and each driver will use a Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupe finished to match. Not a bad bonus. The team’s garage at the Circuit of the Americas will also get a MANUFAKTUR makeover.
To further celebrate the paint job, activations are planned at South Congress, Amy’s, Tecovas, the W Hotel and SCHEELS, while its free fan hub opens at 400 Congress Avenue from Thursday.
“Austin will also be an important weekend for us off track, with a number of commercial activities taking place across the city,” team principal Toto Wolff said in the team's preview. “At the heart of that will be AMG and the MANUFAKTUR takeover, bringing to life the performance, craftsmanship and individuality of the wider Mercedes family throughout the weekend.”
It is the second special livery Mercedes has run in three races. Two races ago at Sepang, the team celebrated its title partnership with Petronas by swapping the positions of its silver and turquoise.
"The United States Grand Prix begins another demanding triple-header," Wolff notes. "There is plenty at stake, but we won’t get ahead of ourselves. The priority is the weekend in front of us: execute well, maximise our performance and take each race as it comes."