![]() The W04 driven by Lewis Hamilton at the Malaysian Grand Prix | |||||||||||
Category | Formula One | ||||||||||
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Constructor | Mercedes | ||||||||||
Designer(s) | Bob Bell (Technical Director) Aldo Costa (Engineering Director) [1] Geoff Willis (Technology Director) John Owen (Chief Designer) Loïc Serra (Chief Vehicle Dynamicist) Russell Cooley (Chief Engineer) Mike Elliott (Head of Aerodynamics) David Jeffrey (Chief Aerodynamicist) | ||||||||||
Predecessor | Mercedes F1 W03 | ||||||||||
Successor | Mercedes F1 W05 Hybrid | ||||||||||
Technical specifications [2] | |||||||||||
Chassis | Moulded carbon fibre composite monocoque incorporating front and side impact structures | ||||||||||
Suspension (front) | Pushrod suspension | ||||||||||
Suspension (rear) | Pullrod suspension | ||||||||||
Engine | Mercedes-Benz FO 108F 2.4 L (146 cu in) V8 (90°) naturally-aspirated, 18,000 RPM limited with KERS | ||||||||||
Transmission | Jointly Xtrac 1044 with Mercedes AMG housing 7-speed semi-automatic transmission including reverse | ||||||||||
Power | 750 + 80 hp (559 + 60 kW) @ 18,000 rpm with KERS mode | ||||||||||
Weight | 642 kg | ||||||||||
Fuel | Petronas | ||||||||||
Tyres | Pirelli P Zero (dry), Cinturato (wet) [3] | ||||||||||
Competition history | |||||||||||
Notable entrants | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | ||||||||||
Notable drivers | 9. ![]() 10. ![]() | ||||||||||
Debut | 2013 Australian Grand Prix | ||||||||||
First win | 2013 Monaco Grand Prix | ||||||||||
Last win | 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix | ||||||||||
Last event | 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix | ||||||||||
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The Mercedes F1 W04 [6] (originally known as the Mercedes AMG W04) [7] is a Formula One racing car designed and built by the Mercedes team for use in the 2013 season. It was driven by 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, [5] who joined the team after Michael Schumacher's retirement, [8] and Nico Rosberg, who remained with the team for a fourth season. [4]
Following a difficult 2012 season in which the team finished fifth in the World Constructors' Championship despite recording their maiden victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, team principal Ross Brawn carried out an extensive array of changes to the team's engineering positions. Aldo Costa was recruited from Ferrari, [9] as were Geoff Willis from the now-defunct HRT F1 Team and Mike Elliott from Lotus F1. [10] Parallel to this, Mercedes's long-time Vice President of Motorsport Norbert Haug left the team; [11] he was replaced by Toto Wolff, who left his role of Executive Director at Williams to take the position. [12]
The W04 endured a difficult start to its season. Although Hamilton and Rosberg secured two podium finishes and three consecutive pole position starts within the first five races, the car developed a reputation for being notoriously harsh on its tyres during a time when tyre supplier Pirelli was faced with heavy criticism for the delicate structure of its tyre compounds, and the narrow operating window, which exacerbated the W04's inherent flaws. This was evidenced in the Bahrain and Spanish Grands Prix, where Nico Rosberg qualified on pole for both races, but went on to finish them in ninth and sixth places respectively.
At the Monaco Grand Prix, the W04 achieved its second front row lockout in as many races (Rosberg and Hamilton locked out the front row in Spain) with Nico Rosberg on pole and Lewis Hamilton in second. Rosberg went on to win the race, repeating the feat of his father Keke Rosberg in the 1983 race, Hamilton finished in fourth.
At the British Grand Prix, Hamilton qualified on pole with Rosberg in second. In the race, Hamilton was comfortably leading, until lap 8, when his car suffered a left-rear tyre failure on the Wellington Straight. Felipe Massa had a similar tyre failure and a subsequent tyre explosion on Jean-Éric Vergne's car brought out the safety car on lap 16. Rosberg went on to win the race ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber by just 0.7 seconds giving Mercedes their second win of the season.
In Hungary, Hamilton secured his first win for the team after starting on pole position, he managed his tyres without any of the early season trouble he had faced. Rosberg dropped back at the start and retired for the third and final time in the season. Belgium was next and Hamilton secured his 4th pole position in a row. However, Sebastian Vettel was too quick for the Mercedes and ran away with the race; Hamilton and Rosberg finished 3rd and 4th and kept themselves in 2nd place in the championship.
India and Abu Dhabi came as the 2 venues for the team's final podium finishes after difficult races in Singapore, Korea and Japan-where Hamilton suffered his first retirement of the season. Nico Rosberg inherited 2nd place in India when Webber retired and he finished 'best of the rest' in 3rd behind the 2 Red Bulls in Abu Dhabi.
In Brazil, Hamilton had been running 4th and on course for the podium but when lapping Valtteri Bottas they touched which left Hamilton with a puncture and a drive through which dropped him out of the points. He fought back to 9th and combined with Rosberg's 5th-place finish the team secured 2nd place in the Constructors' Championship, a huge improvement from 5th in 2012.
This was the first year that Mercedes receive a new sponsorship from BlackBerry. In Malaysia, the Primax co-branding present on the sidepods.
(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Pts | WCC |
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2013 | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | Mercedes-Benz FO 108F | P | AUS | MAL | CHN | BHR | ESP | MON | CAN | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | SIN | KOR | JPN | IND | ABU | USA | BRA | 360 | 2nd | |
![]() | Ret | 4 | Ret | 9 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 19† | 4 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 5 | ||||||
![]() | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 5 | Ret | 6 | 7 | 4 | 9 |
† Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as they had completed greater than 90% of the race distance.
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Ross James Brawn is a British Formula One managing director, motor sports and technical director. He is a former motorsport engineer and Formula One team principal, and has worked for a number of Formula One teams. Teams with Brawn in an essential role have won eight constructors' championships and eight drivers' championships in total. Serving as the technical director of the championship-winning Benetton and Ferrari teams, he earned fame as the "mastermind" behind Michael Schumacher's seven world championship titles. He took a sabbatical in 2007 and returned to F1 for the 2008 season as team principal of Honda.
Nico Erik Rosberg is a German and Finnish former racing driver and entrepreneur, who competed under the German flag in Formula One from 2006 to 2016. Rosberg won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 2016 with Mercedes, and won 23 Grands Prix across 11 seasons.
Esteban Manuel Gutiérrez Gutiérrez is a Mexican former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from 2013 to 2016.
Mercedes-Benz, a German luxury automotive brand of the Mercedes-Benz Group, has been involved in Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1954. The current Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team is based in Brackley, England, and possesses a German licence. An announcement was made in December 2020 that Ineos planned to take a one third equal ownership stake alongside the Mercedes-Benz Group and Toto Wolff; this came into effect on 25 January 2022. Mercedes-branded teams are often referred to by the nickname, the "Silver Arrows".
The Mercedes MGP W01 was a Formula One motor racing car designed and built by the Mercedes GP Petronas team for the 2010 season and was driven by the returning seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.
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The 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 22 April 2012 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain. It was the first time Formula One returned to Bahrain after the 2011 race was cancelled due to ongoing anti-government protests. The race, the eighth running of the Bahrain Grand Prix, was contested over 57 laps and was the fourth round of the 2012 Formula One season.
The 2012 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that was held at the Valencia Street Circuit in Valencia, Spain on 24 June 2012. It was the eighth round of the 2012 championship season, and the final time the circuit hosted the European Grand Prix or any other Formula One race. It was Fernando Alonso's second Grand Prix win in Spain after the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix held at Barcelona. Michael Schumacher finished third at the age of 43 years and 173 days, the oldest driver to climb to the podium since Jack Brabham's second-place finish at the 1970 British Grand Prix. It was Schumacher's best result since his comeback in 2010 and the final podium finish of his Formula One career.
The 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 25 March 2012 at the Sepang International Circuit in Selangor, Malaysia. It was the fourteenth running of the Malaysian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship, and the thirty-second time the event has been held. The 56-lap race was the second round of the 2012 Formula One season and was won by Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. Sergio Pérez of the Sauber team finished the race in second position, and McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton completed the podium with third place after starting in pole position.
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The 2012 Chinese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 15 April 2012 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China. It was the ninth running of the Chinese Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. The 56-lap race was the third round of the 2012 Formula One season.
The Mercedes F1 W05 Hybrid, originally known as the Mercedes F1 W05, was a highly successful Mercedes-Benz Formula One racing car designed and developed under the direction of Bob Bell, Aldo Costa, Geoff Willis, Loïc Serra, Russell Cooley, John Owen, Mike Elliott and Jarrod Murphy to compete in the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship. The cars were driven by 2008 World Drivers' Champion Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, both of whom remained with the team for a second and fifth season, respectively. The F1 W05 was designed to use Mercedes's new 1.6-litre V6 turbocharged engine, the PU106A Hybrid.
The 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix, formally titled the 2015 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix, was a Formula One motor race that was held on 29 March 2015 at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was the seventeenth running of the Malaysian Grand Prix as a World Championship event.
The Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid is a Mercedes-Benz Formula One racing car designed and developed under the direction of Paddy Lowe, Aldo Costa, Geoff Willis, Loïc Serra, Russell Cooley, John Owen, Mike Elliott and Jarrod Murphy to compete in the 2015 FIA Formula One World Championship. The cars were driven by Nico Rosberg and the reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who remained with the team for a sixth and third season, respectively.
The 2015 Chinese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race that was held on 12 April 2015 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China. The race was the third round of the 2015 season, and marked the twelfth time that the Chinese Grand Prix has been run as a round of the Formula One World Championship.
The 2015 Spanish Grand Prix, formally titled the Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Pirelli 2015, was a Formula One motor race held on 10 May 2015 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain. The race was the fifth round of the 2015 season and marked the forty-fifth running of the Spanish Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship and the twenty-fifth running at Catalunya. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg took his first win of the season, his first in Spain and the ninth of his career. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton finished second after a bad start, followed by Sebastian Vettel in third.
The 2015 Monaco Grand Prix, formally known as the Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2015, was a Formula One motor race that was held on 24 May 2015 at the Circuit de Monaco, a street circuit that runs through the principality of Monaco. It was the sixty-second running of the race as a World Championship event, and seventy-third running overall.
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The Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid is a Formula One racing car which competed in the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship. It is one of the most successful Mercedes-Benz designs of all time, designed and developed under the direction of Paddy Lowe, Aldo Costa, Geoff Willis, Loïc Serra, Russell Cooley, John Owen, Mike Elliott, and Jarrod Murphy. The cars were driven by three-time World Drivers' Champion Lewis Hamilton, and Nico Rosberg, both of whom remained with the team for a fourth and a seventh season, respectively. In addition, it was the last Formula One car driven by Rosberg, following his announcement on his retirement from the sport after clinching his first World Drivers' Championship title.