Want to Know Mercedes’ Secret Product Ingredients? Say Hello to Motorsports and the F1 Development Teams
Why does racing matter? Technology transfer to the street has never been greater, Mercedes says.
Alisa PriddleWriterManufacturerPhotographerSep 11, 2025
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Two key ingredients of Mercedes-Benz vehicles: power and efficiency. They stem from a pair of projects with lofty missions. One was to develop the most efficient electric vehicle and the second was to develop the fastest. The results were the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQ XX concept that can travel more than 745 miles on a single charge, and the efficiency learnings were poured into the new 2026 Mercedes-Benz CLA. The second concept was the Mercedes-AMG GT XX, an electric rocket with 1,340 horsepower that can reach 220 mph. A production GT is coming next year to take the mantle as the brand’s flagship.
One thing these all have in common is that the Mercedes and AMG production-car teams worked closely with the Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP) development crews that are behind the Petronas-backed Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 squad—a collaboration that has been heightened in the last three or four years.
F1 Collaboration Has Never Been Stronger
“I’ve never seen Formula 1 closer, with more [technology] transfer than today,” said Mercedes’ chief technology officer Markus Schäfer. “I’m using the Formula 1 team in the U.K., the powertrain company and the chassis company.”
Most of the work on the Mercedes-AMG GT XX was done by Mercedes-AMG HPP in Brackley, U.K., and the power units are designed and developed in Brixworth.
Mercedes Benz Vision EQXX Concept 1
The U.K. teams also did a lot of the record-breaking powertrain work on the EQXX concept, a good fit given that the motorsports folks count every joule of energy.
Schäfer credits the collaboration for the success of the GT XX and EQXX programs. “These programs wouldn’t be as successful if only one body had done it,“ he said.
Work has long been underway for a new electrified powertrain for F1 for next year, using new battery cells and chemistries. A lot of it will be transferred to the Mercedes road-car lineup in the future.
A lot of synergies are happening, more than ever before, Schäfer said. The F1 team has a culture of fast and immediate innovation that the automaker wants to infuse into the rest of the company to speed development.
Having a motorsports presence is also good for marketing, but today it goes way beyond marketing, according to Schäfer. It is a way to present what Mercedes can do, and provides a means to go ahead and do it.
Alisa Priddle
Alisa Priddle joined MotorTrend in 2016 as the Detroit Editor. A Canadian, she received her Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, and has been a reporter for 40 years, most of it covering the auto industry because there is no more fascinating arena to cover. It has it all: the vehicles, the people, the plants, the competition, the drama. Alisa has had a wonderfully varied work history as a reporter for four daily newspapers including the Detroit Free Press where she was auto editor, and the Detroit News where she covered the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, as well as auto trade publication Wards, and two enthusiast magazines: Car & Driver and now MotorTrend. At MotorTrend Alisa is a judge for the MotorTrend Car, Truck, SUV and Person of the Year. She loves seeing a new model for the first time, driving it for the first time, and grilling executives for the stories behind them. In her spare time, she loves to swim, boat, sauna, and then jump into a cold lake or pile of snow.
