(Motorsport-Complete.com) – since Niki Lauda’s death in May 2019 Mercedes with a red star on its Formula 1 racing car. But at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, some observers were looking for the feature in vain. “We had a few questions about the red star, the Niki Lauda star,” admits Mercedes’ chief strategist James Vowles.
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Different location, but still there: The Lauda star remains a Mercedes feature Zoom Gain
But he explains: “It was still on the body, just in a slightly different location. If you look at the left side of the body and look at the back of the car, it is now in the direction of the driver’s helmet and the roll bar, but he’s still there. ” The reason for the new location was a special paint job.
At the end of the season, Mercedes had the names of all 2000 employees in Brackley and Brixworth immortalized in the cars. “It was the names of everyone involved in the project to win the championship this year,” said Vowles.
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“If you look at the back of the car, the left side, the entire chassis department was represented, and the engine department was represented on the right side. Overall it was round 2000 Names, distributed on both sides. It was an enormous effort to finish this paint job, “recalls the head of strategy.
Starting with the creation of complete lists of names of all people who were connected to the project, to the final implementation in the Gra fics department. “Our paint and gluing workshops really had to work very hard to produce all of this in the shortest possible time and get it on track.”
“For me personally it was a very proud 2nd, my name on the car “, Vowles continues,” but not just mine, but that of many people who have contributed to the success we had this year. “
For the seventh time As a result, the team won both the manufacturer and the driver standings. A milestone in the history of Mercedes and Formula 1: “We shared experiences and ultimately won seven double world championships together in difficult times and that is what once symbolized this.”
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