A Disappointment For Sure
It seems that the Mercedes-AMG One hypercar will not actually compete in the hypercar class at Le Mans. This is unfortunate, as we were hoping to see it and the Aston Martin Valkyrie duke it out on the track. In a recent interview with Top Gear, The Mercedes-AMG boss, Tobias Moers, said the car wouldn’t compete in the race.
The Mercedes-AMG One has suffered some delays and now isn’t supposed to come out until 2021. That isn’t a huge deal as the car could still race in Le Mans when it does come out, but Moers said it wouldn’t. He spoke about the idea of racing his company’s car against the Aston Martin saying:
I have concerns on one hand, while on the other I’m really excited to see those cars racing together. It’s an amazing situation. But investing such an amount of money in BoP-oriented racing? I’m not down with that for now.
Moers also said that the Mercedes-AMG One would not chase the 300 mph barrier that Bugatti just recently broke with its special edition of its Chiron. He explained his reasoning like this:
I’m not interested in a speed competition. Doing 350, 400kmh, I’m okay with that. And a Nürburgring lap of course. The experience of driving a Formula 1 powertrain is much more important than top speed.
We can respect that. Honestly, how often are you going to get to try and take the car to 300 mph or anywhere near it? It’s more interesting to have a car that’s super fast and offers a racecar-like experience. With all that said, we would still like to see the car at Le Mans.
