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Silver Arrows: 125 years in motorsport
Jul 292019
Highs and lows are an integral part of motorsport. While the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport Team raced into their second home Grand Prix of the season, to fight for another podium lockout - and celebrate two huge anniversaries - the odds seemed stacked in their favour.
Off the back of a 1-2 podium triumph at Silverstone, Lewis and Valtteri zeroed in on Hockenheim in southern Germany, with high-hopes to replicate the British Grand Prix result. Saturday’s P1 and P3 qualifying spots hinted towards a silverware-filled Sunday session; however after a wet and wild 64 laps, where Lewis finished an uncharacteristic 11th, and Valtteri crashed out, the dream was unfortunately over.
It was a unwelcome twist of fate on a historic Grand Prix weekend, which not only celebrated Mercedes-Benz’ 125th year of motorsport, but also the team’s 200th race in Formula One.
To mark the occasion, a one-off special white livery, paying homage to the original Silver Arrow - born some 85 years ago in 1934 - was used on Lewis and Valtteri’s Mercedes AMG F1 W10 EQ Power+.
Back then, racing cars were painted to represent the origin of either their car or driver. Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix race cars were traditionally painted white, representing the German history of the brand. However, according to legend, at the ‘Eifelrennen’ event held on 3 June 1934 at the Nürburgring, the Mercedes-Benz W25 was declared over the 750Kg weight limit. Allegedly, the team was able to reduce the weight to within regulatory limits by scraping off its white paint. Without the white paint, the metal bodywork of the car was exposed, giving it a silver look: the first Silver Arrow.
