Mercedes-Benz has displayed the F1 W06 Hybrid car at the 2016 Auto Expo. It is the most successful F1 car in the sport’s history and drove the brand to victory in 2015.
F1 has been the epitome of motorsports since many years. The sport requires a lot of commitment from the manufacturers participating and also from the drivers. Every year, the bar for development is raised higher as various teams try to make their cars as fast as possible while complying with the norms set by the FIA. For the year 2015, Mercedes-AMG had to develop a new hybrid powertrain for their F1 car and this meant spending a lot of time and money.
Developing a hybrid race car is no joke since it would require incorporating batteries for the electric motor and the batteries are not light by any stretch of imagination. Obviously, adding weight to the car means bogging down its performance and increasing fuel consumption along with tyre wear. The solution to this was using lightweight parts in all possible places. For the same, Mercedes-AMG built the F1 W06 Hybrid and the car got them immense success.
The monocoque, the bodywork, the suspension, the brakes and numerous smaller components are made of carbon fibre in the Mercedes-AMG F1 W06 hybrid. This has helped keep its weight down and the performance ahead of the game. Infact, the win percentage of the car was 67% in the 2015 season. The season saw many other teams struggling with their F1 cars as they couldn’t engineer the changes well enough but Mercedes showed how things are done and aced the game.
Mercedes-Benz F1 W06
– Mercedes had to develop a hybrid powertrain for their F1 car in 2015
– The team won the driver’s and constructor’s titles
– The win percentage of the car was 67% in the 2015 season
