Latest news with #Mercedes-AMGF1
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Mercedes Wants To Ditch George Russell For Max Verstappen Ahead Of 2026 F1 Rules Change
George Russell has not yet signed a new contract with his Mercedes-AMG F1 team for the 2026 season. It seems team boss and "F1 The Movie" producer Toto Wolff is trying to keep his team's options open for next season, actively attempting to lure the four-time World Drivers' Champion Max Verstappen away from his recalcitrant Red Bull Racing team. "As Mercedes, they want to be back on top, and if you're going to be back on top you need to make sure you've got the best drivers, the best engineers, the best pitcrew, and that's what Mercedes are chasing. So, it's only normal that conversations with the likes of Verstappen are ongoing," Russell admitted to ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix. Russell, having won four Grands Prix for the three-pointed star since he joined the team in 2022, including the most recent outing at the Canadian Grand Prix, is confident his performance will earn him a new contract in short order. With an entirely new set of regulations on the horizon, Mercedes will want to hit the ground running in 2026 with a solid lineup of adaptable drivers. Because of that, I think the team would be foolish to drop George for Verstappen. When everything is perfect for Max and he has the exact right car, the Red Bull ace is nearly unstoppable. Face him with even the lightest of adverse conditions, and he implodes into an atomic bomb of insecurity and dangerous on-track antics. If Mercedes build a mildly competitive car, as they have this season, George will unequivocally be the right answer, and I'm confident he's got enough talent to take a championship if the car is as well-built as the 2025 McLarens or 2023 Red Bull have been. Max might be able to make a perfect car even more perfect, but in a merely passable car he'll be a liability for the team, as he has been in 2025. Read more: Every 2025 Formula 1 Livery, Ranked From Worst To Best Conveniently the Mercedes AMG F1 team has two seats, so George doesn't necessarily have to be the one to go in order to make room for Mr. Verstappen. In that same interview, propped up by his recent win, Russell commented "I feel with the performance I'm showing at the moment I've got zero reasons to be worried." That leaves Mercedes-AMG junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli on the chopping block. The 18-year-old recent grad joined Mercedes for the 2025 season on a one-year contract to replace Sir Lewis Hamilton, who departed for Ferrari after delivering 8 World Constructor Championships for the Merc squad. Antonelli is holding his own, but hardly filling those big shoes, scoring fewer than half as many points as Russell across the season. If I were Toto Wolff, and thank goodness I'm not, I certainly would not ditch either of these drivers to woo Max Verstappen. In spite of Max's generational talent, he's a potential liability to the team if he replaces Russell, and the team would practically implode if he replaced Antonelli. A George Russell and Max Verstappen duo at Mercedes would be diabolical and the infighting would break even the most stoic team principal. Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox... Read the original article on Jalopnik.
WIRED
01-04-2025
- Automotive
- WIRED
The Mercedes-Branded F1 Electric Bike Looks Beautiful but Is So, So Heavy
As we reported last week, even electric-auto maker Rivian is getting in on that sweet, sweet electric bike action. And at first glance, the N+ Bikes Mercedes-AMG F1 electric bike looks to be another bike in a continuing trend of auto manufacturers making and selling much smaller motor-powered vehicles. But unlike Ford's electric bike, this specific class II ebike isn't made by Mercedes. Even if it has the iconic three-pointed star on the frame (and it is an officially licensed product of Mercedes AMC Petronas Formula One Team), it's designed and manufactured by N+ Bikes, based out of California. The aluminum, fully rigid frame has a sleek, race-car appeal. Its matte black color pops with well-placed Petronas green (aka turquoise) highlights in the interior of the fork and chain stays, a nod to Formula One fans. The bike's cockpit looks like a miniature Mercedes dashboard, complete with two retro speedometers—one for speed and the other for watts. The former tops out at 60 mph, despite the fact that the motor legally has to cut out when speeds reach 20 mph. Still, if you're a Mercedes fan, this will probably matter to you that the bike is Mercedes-branded, not Mercedes-made. Photograph: N+ Bikes Under the Hood What about the stats? E-spec-wise, the bike has a powerful motor for a commuter, 750 watts, that lives in the rear-wheel hub and provides four modes of power from Normal to Race. The 48-volt battery lives in the down tube and offers an advertised range of 70 miles. There's space to store an additional 48-volt battery (sold separately) in the very thick and futuristic-looking seat post. Neither of the batteries are easily removable, making it a challenging bike to charge from the office or to use in a cold-weather destination, where batteries often need to be brought inside. Photograph: Stephanie Pearson
