We recently announced that from the start of the 2012 season, our Silver Arrows works team will compete under the new name

‘MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One(TM) Team‘.

Building on the motorsport pedigree of the Mercedes AMG brand, Norbert Haug, Vice President of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, said: “Our new team name fuses the proud traditions of AMG and the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows at the pinnacle of motorsport.”

Mercedes AMG is the most successful brand in the history of the DTM, winning 165 races since 1988 and supplying the official Formula One safety and medical cars since 1996. Added to the fact that AMG has been synonymous worldwide with automotive performance, sportiness and dynamic driving enjoyment for over 40 years – renaming the team is well-founded.

Team Principal Ross Brawn concluded: “Our new name adds another strong performance element to our team’s identity and will forge even stronger links within our team.”

The car for the 2012 season (codename F1 W03) is currently under development at the team’s headquarters in Brackley, and is set to make its official track debut on 21 February at Barcelona. Stay tuned for updates!

Tell us what you think on Twitter via @MercedesBenzUK.

Coming soon: Happy New Years from Mercedes-Benz

At the end of another fascinating Formula One™ season, we saw Nico Rosberg finish the Brazilian Grand Prix in P7, while team mate Michael Schumacher ended in the 71-lap race in P15, after an early brush left him with a punctured left-rear tyre.

For Rosberg, who struggled with oversteer and tyre degradation due to very high track temperatures, seventh wasn’t the season finale he’d hoped for. After the race he concluded: “Now I’m looking ahead and I hope we can do better in 2012. I look forward to an exciting time in the winter as we work hard to develop a better car for next year.”

Schumacher meanwhile described the incident with Bruno Senna on lap 10 as unfortunate. However he finished on a positive note saying: “We very much look forward to next season now. With all the effort that is being put into the development of the car, I am confident we can make another step forward to where Mercedes belongs; fighting at the top.”

Despite Schumacher’s unplanned pit stop, Team Principal Ross Brawn pointed out that his subsequent lap times were competitive, thanks to his ability to demonstrate the car’s innate pace. He rounded off the season saying: “There are accomplishments we can be proud of this season, such as our consistently strong pit stops, and we know that we need to put everything together next year.”

With a total of 731 points, Mercedes-Benz is the highest scoring engine manufacturer of the 2011 season. Attention now turns to the 2012 Formula One™ season, kicking off with the Australian Grand Prix in March.

Tell us what you think on Twitter via @MercedesBenzUK.

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Sunday’s Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi saw Lewis Hamilton take home a dominant victory for McLaren Mercedes, while sixth and seventh places respectively for Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher represented a positive result for the Mercedes GP Petronas team.

After an early battle between the pair on the first lap, Rosberg emerged ahead in P6 by the start of lap two. Team Principal Ross Brawn described the start of the race as both lively and entertaining, saying: “Our performance today reminds us of the little bit that we have to close down to become truly competitive, but it is within reach.”

Having completed a very long second stint before pitting for prime tyres, Rosberg was pleased with his result claiming he “was quite happy with my car all weekend. It makes me look forward to Brazil and hopefully we can achieve another good result there.”

For Schumacher however the strategy was less beneficial. After his tyres gave up early in the first stint, he claimed: “We now have to look into the data and make sure we are well prepared for the last race of the season.”

Tell us what you think on Twitter via @MercedesBenzUK.

Coming soon: Mercedes-Benz Escape The Map

Marking the fifth consecutive victory for Mercedes-Benz at Hockenheim – the finale won by Jamie Green ended the 2011 DTM season on a high. In fact, since the DTM was revived in 2000, Mercedes-Benz has won a remarkable 19 out of 26 races at Hockenheim.

Green brought home his seventh DTM victory and second win at Hockenheim, setting the fastest race lap (1:34.114) for the fifth time at this track. The season finale was the last race for the prolific AMG Mercedes C-Class, overall winning 85 out of 159 races – making this car the most successful in 27 years of DTM history.

Overall the season encompassed thrilling race action in five countries, concluding with Martin Tomczyk being crowned 2011 DTM champion and taking the Crystal Champion’s Trophy for Audi. Tomczyk’s fellow driver Mattias Ekström completed the 1-2 for Audi in the drivers’ standings by finishing sixth and scoring three points in the finale – one point ahead of Bruno Spengler of Mercedes-Benz in the final standings.

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, head of motorsport Audi was clearly happy with the season’s conclusion, saying: “First and second place are excellent. Moreover, the success of the Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline is great. This is an excellent basis for next year.”

Rounding off the year in DTM, Norbert Haug, Vice-President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, praised Green for his tremendous achievement and added: “Next year, the DTM will welcome a third competitor, BMW, and that affirms the good work done over the last six years by Audi, Mercedes-Benz, the ITR, the DMSB and all our sponsors and TV partners, who always believed in the success of this remarkable championship.”

So after six years of head-to-head competition between Mercedes-Benz and Audi, the three-pointed star has won 51:34 – stay tuned for the 2012 DTM season where new rivals BMW will be entering the race.

Find out more about Mercedes-Benz DTM here and to see the video about the 2012 DTM car here.

Tell us what you think on Twitter via @MercedesBenzUK.

Coming soon: Escape the Map

On a day of mixed emotions, we not only saw the inaugural Indian Grand Prix dedicated to the memory of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli, but yet another commanding victory for Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.

Meanwhile strong performances from MERCEDES GP PETRONAS drivers

Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg saw them finish in P5 and P6 respectively at the Buddh International Circuit, a race track described as challenging by Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

A long run by Schumacher in the second stint left him clear of team mate Rosberg, securing his finish in fifth place. Happy with the outcome, Schumacher stated: “We achieved the maximum that we could hope for, and as a team we maximised our potential.” Looking ahead, he concluded: “What’s really important at the moment is that we keep pushing and trying to improve.”

Crossing the finish line in sixth place, Rosberg admitted: “My strategy was not perfect today and I lost some time in the second pit stop which meant that I wasn’t able stay ahead of Michael.” Commenting on the result overall, he added: “I’m confident that we can repeat this good result in the last two races.”

Team Principal Ross Brawn felt the team achieved a very solid result, saying: “We certainly got everything that we could out of our current car this weekend.”

Tell us what you think on Twitter via @MercedesBenzUK.

What a fantastic ending to the 2011 DTM season – Mercedes-Benz driver Jamie Green wins the finale at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg.

Taking the lead from second place on the grid, the Brit stormed to victory 7.620 seconds ahead of newly-crowned 2011 DTM champion Martin Tomczyk (Audi). Celebrating his second win at Hockenheim, Green reflected: “I feel very proud to have won this race which is also the final outing for the AMG Mercedes C-Class, the most successful car in DTM history.”

Tomczyk finished second and extended his points’ tally to 72 points. Presented with the Crystal Champion’s Trophy by ex-Formula 1™ driver Patrick Tambay, the German wrapped up his achievements admitting, “I wasn’t able to completely keep up with Jamie’s pace, but that was secondary today. It was great to finish the year on the podium and to start into the winter break this way – it’s been a brilliant season.”

Meanwhile fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Bruno Spengler, who finishing ninth said: “Unfortunately, my bid to end the season as runner-up in the Championship didn’t quite come off, but all the same, I take satisfaction from having won two races and having started from pole position in four.”

Attention now turns to the upcoming season starting April 29^th 2012 at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, where rivals BMW are set to make an exciting comeback to DTM…

Find out more about Mercedes-Benz DTM here.

Tell us what you think on Twitter via @MercedesBenzUK.

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Yesterday’s Korean Grand Prix in Yeongam saw Nico Rosberg finish eighth, while

Michael Schumacher was forced to retire on lap 16 after being hit by Vitaly Petrov. The team made three pit stops during the race – all under 21 seconds.

Ross Brawn, Team Principal of Mercedes GP Petronas said: “The early stages of the race looked encouraging and both drivers were making good progress on the option tyres, with Nico fighting among the top three teams and jumping the Ferraris thanks to more strong pit work.”

Despite completing over half of the race on his second set of prime tyres, Rosberg managed to climb from P14 to P7 before finishing in P8. He said: “I had good speed at the start of the race today but after we changed to the prime tyres, it became more difficult as the degradation was too strong.” After pushing hard to defend his position against Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso in the middle stint, Rosberg concluded that it was “a difficult race for me today but I’m still happy to score some points.”

Schumacher reflected on the incident with Petrov which left his rear wing hanging off and saw them both retire from the race: “It was another unfortunate end to a race which could have been encouraging today. It’s a big pity as the car was again very good in race trim and I had already gained some positions.” He added: “These things happen when you fight hard – that’s racing.”

Looking ahead to the next race, Brawn summed up: “Although we didn’t score points to our full potential today, there were encouraging signs of our competitiveness for the remaining three races of the season, and we will aim to build on this in India – which will be a new adventure for us all.”

Tell us what you think on Twitter via @MercedesBenzUK.

Coming soon: Cold Weather Tyres

With a reputation for being an extremely unforgiving F1™ circuit – the 2011

Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay was a challenging race in more ways than one.

After finishing in seventh place, Nico Rosberg reflected on his result: “I was struggling with the rear end in the race, and our car just really didn’t suit this demanding track. I had more problems with tyre degradation than the cars around me, which combined with having to switch our strategy when the safety car came out, meant it was impossible to make any progress.”

For team mate Michael Schumacher however, tyres were not the main issue – a collision with Sergio Perez on lap 28 ended his race prematurely: “It was a very unfortunate ending to my race in Singapore tonight and obviously I am a bit disappointed. What happened was what I would call a misunderstanding between Sergio Perez and myself.” Putting it into perspective, Michael concluded: “I will look ahead to the next races and hope to have better endings there.”

Summing the race up on a more positive note, Ross Brawn, Team Principal of

Mercedes GP Petronas, added: “Seventh place was about as much as we could have expected today, and whilst it feels disappointing, we will keep working hard and pushing forward.”

Roll on Suzuka!

Tell us what you think on Twitter via @MercedesBenzUK.

Coming soon: Westfield London Car ‘Bootique’

Mercedes GP PETRONAS driver Michael Schumacher is as hungry for success as he ever has been despite persistent rumours suggesting he is set to re-retire from the sport at the end of the current season.

This is according to Norbert Haug, Head of Motorsport at Mercedes-Benz, who said that his performances during races are testament to Schumacher's unquenched thirst for success.

"I think you could admit that in qualifying there is something missing, but his race performance this year, and I'm not speaking against [team-mate] Nico [Rosberg], but over the last five races the race pace was comparable, sometimes Michael is a bit quicker," he told AUTOSPORT.

Haug added: "If you look at the overtaking statistics, Michael is leading, nobody has overtaken more than him."

Furthermore, the Mercedes-Benz chief insisted that there is no desire on the part of Schumacher or Rosberg to seek a move elsewhere in a bid to drive a more competitive car.

Follow the Mercedes GP PETRONAS team

A Formula One™ enthusiast has had his wish of a new bionic hand fulfilled after sending a letter to Ross Brawn, Team Principal at Mercedes GP PETRONAS.

Matthew James, 14, was born without a left hand and was fitted with a bionic version which he described as "like a claw".

The teenager wanted a more sophisticated device, however they cost tens of thousands of pounds and are not always available on the NHS.

Matthew's family managed to raise money towards buying a i-Limb Pulse from Touch Bionics, but were still well short of the £30,000 needed.

As a result, he asked Brawn for help after the motor racing whiz visited Reading School.

The two organisations, Mercedes-Benz and Touch Bionics, have now agreed to share technology which is used in both the cars and the bionic arm.

Brawn explained: "Matthew's letter to the team was very touching.

"Meeting Matthew, and hearing first hand how the new device would improve his quality of life, was a pleasure and I am delighted that our initial contact has now led to such a positive conclusion."

Follow the Mercedes GP PETRONAS team