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OFFICIAL: Mercedes pulls plug on Formula E project and focuses on F1
- GPblog.com
It already became clear last weekend, but now Mercedes has officially announced it as well: At the end of next season, Mercedes is pulling the plug on the Formula E project. The focus goes completely on Formula 1.
Finished after the world title
For Mercedes, the FE adventure didn't last long. In Season 5 of Formula E, the foundations were laid for Mercedes' current team under the name HWA Racelab. In Season 6, Mercedes really got into the sport, with Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries as the two drivers. With three podium finishes and a win by the Belgian in the final race, the first year was not without merit.
However, in season seven Mercedes got everything it wanted. It was Nyck de Vries who won the world drivers' title in Berlin, but together with his Belgian teammate they also won the world constructors' title. Now Mercedes announces that it will participate in season 8, but will stop after that.
View on Formula 1
''The brand has deliberately chosen to shift resources for this accelerated ramp-up of electrification, including the development of three electric-only architectures to be launched in 2025. Therefore, Mercedes will reallocate resources away from its ABB FIA Formula E World Championship programme and towards applying the lessons learned in competition to product development in series,'' the Mercedes statement reads.
''Moving forward, the company will concentrate its works motorsport activities on Formula 1, reinforcing the sport's status as the fastest laboratory for developing and proving sustainable and scalable future performance technologies,'' the message concludes.