For the upcoming marketing campaign, Mercedes has gone again to utilizing the color scheme it ran through the 2020 and 2021 seasons, when the W11s and W12s had been painted black at Hamilton’s behest to spotlight motorsport’s range points, in addition to the issue of world racial inequality.
This time, nevertheless, whereas Mercedes is happy its livery can once more assist to advertise these vital messages, the first aim has been to make sure the W14 is operating at or as shut as potential to the 798kg automotive weight restrict.
When it returned to utilizing a silver livery for 2022, the group didn’t ever run at that determine.
That quantity was set to be lowered to 796kg for this 12 months earlier than the FIA determined to stay to the earlier restrict partially as a result of the 2023 tyre compounds are heavier and all automobiles should run a brand new electronics field.
Mercedes additionally added additional aerodynamic components to claw again downforce misplaced on the problematic W13 design that got here with an extra weight penalty.
When requested what he thought in regards to the return to a black livery and the choices behind that at Mercedes’ 2023 group launch final week by Motorsport.com, Hamilton stated: “Just about everybody within the group, or within the storage a minimum of, most well-liked the black automotive from earlier than – so everybody’s with it. Everybody likes it throughout the group.
Mercedes W14
Photograph by: Mercedes AMG
“And in the end, weight is a key aim for us. We had been obese all 12 months, final 12 months. And so we had been carrying a weight penalty, even into the final race.
“In order that’s been a heavy focus, to attempt to make it possible for that is not the case this 12 months.
“We’ll discover out in a while [in Mercedes’ Silverstone shakedown], or subsequent week [during pre-season testing in Bahrain], whether or not or not we have hit that mark.
“As a result of even final 12 months, they thought they had been going to be on weight, and we had been method over.
“So, I am glad that that is been taken critically. And that is what we see on the paint. We see quite a lot of carbon, not an excessive amount of paint on the automotive. It is the naked minimal.
“And for me, it is constructive, as a result of that implies that it is all out for efficiency. And it is not essentially the way it appears to be like, it is about how fast it goes.”
At Mercedes’ launch occasion, the W14 appeared with its decrease surfaces comprising simply naked carbon fibre and its higher areas painted black.
It’s unclear if this combine was organized to spotlight Mercedes’ sponsor decals through the shakedown operating and related filming or if the group will now strip off the black paint and expose extra carbon in relation to the upcoming begin of the 2023 marketing campaign.
