The team’s 2022 contender sports a striking new livery

9 March 2022 – The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, who made history with eight consecutive FIA Formula OneTM Constructors’ Championships at the end of the 2021 season, unveiled its 2022 race car on 18 February 2022 at Silverstone, England, ahead of the first race weekend of the season in Bahrain from 18 March 2022.

The car – the Mercedes-AMG F1 W13 E Performance – has gone back to the team’s Silver Arrow roots, reintroducing the iconic Stirling Silver.

Andrew Moody, Head of Paint and Graphics at Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, says, “The return to silver – that instantly recognisable Stirling Silver shade that is unique to our team – coincides with the sport’s most significant technical regulation change in a generation. It is an important step to the team at Brackley and Brixworth, as well as to our fans, as that colour is in our DNA as a team, it is part of our history.”

Trusted partnership

In order to ensure the car lived up to the weight of those expectations, the team has relied on Spies Hecker, one of Axalta’s premium global refinish brands, a leading global supplier of liquid and powder coatings and an Official Team Supplier, for more than eight years.

“The specially-developed PETRONAS Green that we introduced last year is back and we have a new, punchier red for our Principal Partner INEOS, called INEOS Bright. It is a vibrant solid red that really stands out on camera,” says Andrew.

The nose features all four colour this year: Stirling Silver, Midnight Black, PETRONAS Green and INEOS Bright. The nose also includes a larger iconic Mercedes star on the nose, which is airbrushed. The increased size meant Andrew and his team had to adjust their multi-step process to ensure the prefect outcome every time.

This year, the evolution of the now-familiar flow lines, first introduced in 2017, continue; the green is sandwiched by black and the lines that run along the bottom of the nose, chassis and side pods are again sharp on the edges, keeping the overall look of the livery clean.

Another noticeable change on the 2022 livery is the larger stars on the engine cover.

“Despite a change in the stars, we still have our tribute to Niki Lauda. There is one bright red star on either side of the chassis just behind the drivers’ headrest, below the roll hoop. These are painted and not decals as many people believe,” Andrew says.

Completely new supported by reliability

With the regulation changes, 98% of the race car is different to the 2021 car, so Andrew and his team had to get to grips with not only a new livery but also painting that across aerodynamic components that were completely new, and under time pressure ahead of the launch. This is where the reliability of Spies Hecker comes into its own.

The Paint Shop uses a variety of Spies Hecker products, including Priomat® Wash Primer 4075, then either Permasolid® HS Vario Primer Surfacer 5340, a high-solid primer surfacer, or Permasolid® HS Performance Surfacer 5320, a fast-drying 2K HS sanding surfacer. The colours are painted with Permahyd Hi-TEC 480 Basecoat and the paint shop finish components with Permasolid® HS Optimum Plus Clear 8650 or with Permasolid HS Race Clear 8700. When speed is of the essence, Andrew’s team uses Permasolid Speed-TEC Clear Coat 8810.

Olaf Adamek, Refinish Brand Manager for Axalta, says, “Like the rest of the team’s fans, everyone at Axalta was excited to see the new car and new livery unveiled. A return to silver is exciting, especially in light of the new era of F1 this season brings, and we know the car will look amazing as it defends the Constructors’ Championship title. We will be watching this season and cheering the team on.”

For more information about Spies Hecker, please visit www.spieshecker.co.za and to follow the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, visit www.mercedesamgF1.com.