New Mercedes W14 F1 Car Returns To Black Livery To Save Weight

After a less-than-ideal season last year, Mercedes-AMG F1 hopes to make a return to the success of prior years. To accomplish that, they have the W14, their new car for the 2023 Formula 1 season. Driven by Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, the car is now clad in an all-black livery after going back to silver for a year.

Mercedes first introduced the black livery for the 2020 season as a show of diversity and inclusion, and continued that in 2021. For the regulations overhaul in 2022, they went back to the same silver they’d been using since their return to the sport in 2010. Now, they’ve gone back to black, but this time it’s for a different reason: weight reduction.

Related: Alfa Romeo C43 Joins The Dark Side With New Look For 2023 F1 Season

New Mercedes W14 F1 Car Returns To Black Livery To Save Weight
Photos: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

Last season saw teams scrambling to save weight in any way they could, any many chose stripping back paint to save a few grams where they could. The most notable examples of this were Williams, Aston Martin, and McLaren, whose cars got progressively blacker as the season went on, but even this year, teams like Haas and Alfa Romeo have gone for darker themes with their liveries in an effort to save weight. Now we see that Mercedes’ 2023 contender is almost completely bare carbon (there’s still the blueish green accents for Petronas), which is the farthest we’ve seen any team go with that idea.

Apparently, though, this is just as much a historical move for Mercedes as it is a tactical one. “When you look at where the story of the Silver Arrows came from, it’s that the Mercedes was put on track – the race car it was white, overweight, a little bit of our story last year – and they scratched off the paint, and it ended up with bare aluminium, and the car made the weight,” said Team Principal Toto Wolff.

See Also: Ferrari Unveils The SF-23 With Eyes On The Prize For 2023 F1 Season

New Mercedes W14 F1 Car Returns To Black Livery To Save Weight
Photos: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

As for the design of the car itself, it builds upon the shrink-wrapped, sidepod-less philosophy of last year’s car, but promises to tweak key components for added performance. Most notably, these changes appear on the wings, floor, and air inlets/outlets. While Mercedes did have a bit of a rocky start last season, they actually did quite well by the end, with 14 out of 22 races leading to at least one of their drivers on the podium. On top of that, 3 of those races saw both of their drivers on the podium, and they even got a win at the second to last race of the season in Brazil. With any luck, this new and improved car will build off that upwards trajectory and we’ll see a proper 3-way fight for the title between Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari.

Alpine is the only team left to reveal their car, which will take place tomorrow, February 16th. After that, we’ll see all the cars in full at pre-season testing in Bahrain from February 23 to 25, before the 2023 season officially kicks off there from March 3 to 5.

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The Auto World

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