F1 Racer Lewis Hamilton Weighs in on AMG ONE Track Test
If you’re making an F1 road car, which is what Mercedes-AMG is doing with the ONE, you want an F1 champ to give you his thoughts.
Don’t worry. The Mercedes-AMG ONE is still coming…eventually. As we reported earlier this month, development of the F1-inspired hypercar is “back on track” after some emissions- and exhaust-related difficulties, according to AMG’s global head of sales and project management Michael Knöller, and should result in a release date sometime in early 2021. In the meantime, engineers continue to tweak and refine it. Recently, Lewis Hamilton stopped by Mercedes-AMG’s test track in Germany to see how things are going.
While Hamilton may not be an engineer, he knows more than a thing or two about F1 cars. He’s won six championships racing for both McLaren and Mercedes. And Mercedes-AMG is determined to make the ONE a true F1 race car for the road. Even covered in black and white camo, its bodywork is as dramatic and eye-catching as you’d expect it to be on a car with a nearly $3 million price tag. The rooftop air intake and vertical spoiler only add to the “super-exotic” look.
Under all of that wild styling that’s bound to wind up on the walls of thousands of teenage car enthusiasts is an equally radical powertrain. Instead of a V12, which has been the go-to power plant for many hypercar manufacturers, the ONE uses an unusual setup. Ferrari used a hybrid configuration for its LaFerrari, but the power plant in that was nothing like this.
The internal-combustion half of the ONE is an F1-derived 1.6-liter V6 with direct injection and electrically assisted turbocharging. The electric half of the ONE is four electric motors that crank out 450 kW and an 800-volt EQ Power+ drive system. Working together, both sources give the ONE a total output north of 1,000 horsepower.
After watching a ONE development mule zoom around the track, Hamilton remarks, “It’s incredible the speed it picks up.” In quantifiable terms, that means 0-124 mph in less than six seconds and a top speed of 217 mph.
The raspy alien sound coming out of the quartet of rear pipes may not be the roar of a V8 or the wail of a V10, but it does have its own appeal.
According to Hamilton, “The sound is pretty much exactly the same as it is in the race car.” He would know. And the lucky 275 owners of the ONE will find out what he means – just a little later than they initially expected.
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