The F1 technology behind Mercedes’ Nordschleife record hypercar 

Much has changed since October 2015, when AMG boss Tobias Moers first decreed that a Formula 1-engined road car would be the only properly fitting way to celebrate the AMG brand’s 50 years in business. But while a prototype was ready for the Frankfurt Motor Show in the anniversary year – 2017 – further deadlines, not least the 2020 launch date, came and went as the hybrid supercar endured a thorny and protracted development phase.

In the interim, Moers, the Mercedes-AMG One’s father and keenest advocate, has been headhunted by Aston Martin, where he lasted two years before being given the boot by Lawrence Stroll when the company’s share price remained in the doldrums.

The completed and production-ready Mercedes-AMG One is as uncompromising as the man who proposed it. As you might expect of something which puts over 1000bhp under the command of your right foot. Sculpting a slippery carbonfibre shell and loading it with active aerodynamics, dressing the two-seater cockpit in a manner which apes F1 cars without being so intrinsically uncomfortable – these were the easier elements on the task sheet. Making an F1 engine both road-legal and driveable by mere mortals were the key challenges facing Mercedes’ engineers in Brixworth and Affalterbach.

“The performance data of the Mercedes-AMG One are ultimately only a small excerpt of what technology is in this vehicle,” says Jochen Hermann, technical managing director of Mercedes-AMG. “Apart from an F1 powertrain that generates 1048bhp from a relatively small, highly efficient internal combustion engine in combination with four electric motors, the monumental task was above all the exhaust gas aftertreatment. The Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains teams have really done a great job here.

“This project was partly a curse and a blessing at the same time. But we’ve walked the stony path, and as a technician you naturally get carried away with all the details. From the materials used, the exceptional chassis components to the aerodynamic refinements – in terms of complexity, the Mercedes-AMG One is hard to beat. In a Formula 1 car, a team of engineers with laptops makes sure that the powertrain starts. With our hypercar, all it takes is the push of a button. This also illustrates the immense software know-how that’s gone into this vehicle.”

The Mercedes-AMG One comes equipped with special aerodynamic devices on its wheels - handy for a Nurburgring record lap attempt

Photo by: Mercedes AMG

Aston Martin’s collaboration with Red Bull, the Valkyrie, faced a similarly tortuous journey to production as its engineers – led by an increasingly frustrated Adrian Newey – wrestled with the compromises inherent in making an ultra-high-performance car road legal.

There are many technical parallels between Mercedes-AMG One and the Valkyrie: at its heart is an F1-style carbonfibre monocoque and the rear suspension mounts directly to the gearbox and limited-slip differential, which act as stressed members of the chassis as they do in an F1 car. The gearbox, though, isn’t the same as you’ll find in the back of the Mercedes W13 and its antecedents; it’s a bespoke seven-speed unit designed with the real world in mind, in as much as a gearbox can be when transmitting over 1000bhp through a carbonfibre four-disc clutch.

Up front the suspension mounts to an aluminium subframe. The five-link setup features horizontally packaged, pushrod-actuated coil-over dampers, also like a race car, requiring no additional anti-roll bar to control lateral movements. An adaptive damping system linked to the broader drive mode system and active aerodynamics can lower the whole car (37mm at the front, 30mm at the rear) in the more aggressive modes, or lift it to enable the driver to negotiate car parks and speed bumps.

Two electric motors up front power the front wheels independently, provide for power recuperation as well as deployment, and allow for torque vectoring. These account for 321 of the One’s available horses

Externally the One has changed little from the concept presented back in 2017, although it now bristles with active aerodynamic systems, many of which serve the double purpose of optimising downforce levels while servicing the engine’s prodigious cooling demands. While the adjustable splitter and rear wing are nothing new – either to this car or the hypercar genre – the active louvres around the front wheelarches are claimed to boost downforce by increasing negative pressure within the wheel wells. At high speeds they can be closed to reduce drag – if you select the ‘Race DRS’ mode which also retracts the rear wing.

The wheels – you have a choice of two designs – also feature carbonfibre aerodynamic devices which serve multiple functions. Mercedes claims they improve overall aero performance while specifically acting to ventilate the wheelarches and cool the brakes. As a consequence of that, Merc has been able to spec a relatively lightweight braking system featuring six-piston calipers up front and four-piston units at the rear, acting on carbon-ceramic discs.

Where the One and the Valkyrie radically diverge is their weights. The Valkyrie is claimed to tip the scales at around 1100kg but Aston hasn’t released the industry-standard DIN figure (which includes fluids and a 90% fuel load). The One’s quoted DIN weight is 1695kg. That’s a substantial difference even if not quite like-for-like.

The Mercedes-AMG One is significantly heavier than the Valkyrie, with much of the difference down to the F1 powertrain tech

Photo by: Mercedes AMG

As in F1, it’s the hybrid powertrain which is responsible for much of the bulk. The complexity and sophistication is staggering. Two electric motors up front power the front wheels independently (when you first fire the car up, it does so in all-electric mode until the catalytic converters have completed a pre-heating phase), provide for power recuperation as well as deployment, and allow for torque vectoring. These account for 321 of the One’s available horses. The energy storage system is based on the one proved out in F1: a high-power-density lithium-ion battery with a direct-cooling system in which each cell has its own individual ‘jacket’.

Also like current F1 machinery, the 1599cc turbocharged direct-injection petrol V6 is augmented by an MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit – Heat), which minimises turbo ‘lag’ and contributes 121bhp, and an MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit – Kinetic) mounted on the block which can drive or be driven by the crankshaft, depending on the deployment/recovery mode. It has a peak output of 160bhp.

The internal combustion engine is built at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Powertrains in Brixworth and, while it isn’t identical to the power units which have been powering the F1 team’s cars since 2014, it’s close enough. Where it differs in detail, the purpose has been to enable it to run for more than a few hundred miles between rebuilds – and on regular lubricants and fuel. Maximum revs are 11,000rpm, 4,000 less than an F1 car’s limit, although fuel-flow restrictions mean very few F1 engines regularly hit that figure anyway. Peak power of 565bhp arrives at 9,000rpm.

Where the One’s powerplant differs from its race-bred cousins is the presence of a legal necessity: a powerful silencer, a pair of particulate filters, four preheated metal catalytic converters and two ceramic catalytic converters which render it Euro 6 compliant.

Top speed is quoted as “beyond 350km/h [217mph]”. If you select the ‘Race Start’ driving mode the One will hit 60mph in 2.9 seconds and 124mph in under six. To enjoy the staggering performance of this car you will need a stout heart, sensitive feet, and substantial net wealth. The price is €2.75million (we would normally convert this figure into pounds but, given recent developments, that might be too depressing).

It’s understood the complete production run of 275 has already been sold. Owners include David Coulthard, Lewis Hamilton and actor Mark Wahlberg. Can we expect so see the One feature in a future instalment of the Transformers franchise? That might be more entertaining than some of the YouTube footage of nervous ‘influencers’ test driving it at the Nurburgring…

Engel and the Mercedes-AMG One's team of mechanics celebrate his record lap

Photo by: Mercedes AMG