© Finn Pomeroy for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff explains there is a performance reason behind the team’s return to an all-black livery.
Today Mercedes revealed their 2023 challenger – the W14. In a somewhat unexpected move, the team decided to again use an all-black livery, after returning to its traditional silver in 2022.
Mercedes painted its car black for the first time in 2020, as a stand against racism and discrimination, and this livery remained until the end of 2021.
However, Toto Wolff now explains this time there’s a performance reason behind the use of the colour black.
“We were overweight last year,” the Austrian said at Mercedes’ 2023 car launch.
“This year we have tried to figure out where we can squeeze out every single gramme. So now, history repeats itself.
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“You will see that the car has some raw carbon bits, along with some that are painted matte black, and we have gained the grammes.
“Of course, when we changed the livery in 2020 the main driving factor was to support the diversity and equality causes which are always close to our heart.
“The colour black became part of our DNA at that point, so we are pleased to return to it. We had a black car two years ago and it just came together. It’s wonderful.”
However, Toto says he have yet to see how the car will perform on the track.
“Is she going to be as fast as she looks? I hope so but definitely there is a lot of excitement in putting the car on the road,” Wolff concluded.
