Mercedes Unveil One-off Livery to Celebrate 125 Years of Racing

Ahead of the German Grand Prix, the Mercedes team wanted to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the first ever race. For the uninitiated, that race took place from Paris to Rouen and one of the cars had a Benz engine.

Fast-forward to 2019, and Mercedes has grown to become one of the most successful teams. Now, the team will be celebrating the occasion with a new livery just for the weekend. Since their return to Formula one as a team in 2011, they have grown in leaps and bounds. The German outfit have even clinched the last five world championships, courtesy, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

This weekend’s race also marks the 200th Grand Prix start for the team. It was also worth noting that early Mercedes racing cars competed in Germany’s national racing colour of white. It was surprising to know that silver was not always a Mercedes colour, they only adopted it in the early 1930s. This laid the foundation of their iconic Silver Arrows moniker as their W25 machine was a little over the weight limit at the 1934 Nurburgring race. So, the mechanics decided to scrape off the traditional white paint, exposing the silver bodywork.

This was why the 2019 W10 had a half-white-half silver livery to resemble the white paint being scraped off. The team are high in confidence, since Mercedes have a good track record of winning last three races at Hockenheim. They also lead the constructors’ championship by 164 points from rivals Ferrari. So far in the 2019 season, it has been an all-Mercedes affair as Hamilton and current teammate, Valtteri Bottas have seized victory in all but one race.

However, Red Bull are slowly getting in on the action and Scuderia Ferrari, in spite of their troubles, should never be counted out. Last year, Sebastian Vettel was in prime position to win his home grand prix, before he bottled out and slid out onto the gravel. Needless to say, Lewis Hamilton was not saying no to a free position and win in front of the Mercedes fans.