VIDEO: Mercedes-AMG One teased again, 2021 debut

Mercedes-AMG is continuing to tease its highly-anticipated One hypercar, which is finally due to reach customers’ hands this year. The video above, which follows a high-profile advertising campaign with Lewis Hamilton in December, finally shows the camouflaged prototype being driven in anger on track.

Although the car is officially being referred to in the video as the Project One, Affalterbach has already confirmed that the finalised production model will drop the “Project” part of its moniker. As for the mule itself, it retains the black, grey and red colour scheme shown previously – a nod to the signature red hue of the E Performance sub-brand, under which the One will sit.

Other than the disguise, the car looks very similar to the 2017 concept, sporting the same low and wide body, slim head- and taillights and prominent dorsal fin. However, the 43-second film does give us a good look at some of the details of the car, including the active front fender vents, two-stage retractable rear wing and centre-exit exhaust with Formula 1-style twin wastegate pipes.

The reason why the One has an F1 exhaust is because the engine attached to it is actually from an F1 car. Specifically, it’s the 1.6 litre turbocharged V6 from the W07 Hybrid, which powered Nico Rosberg to his only world championship in 2016 (although, perhaps in a bid to forget the bitter contest that year, Lewis Hamilton said the engine was from the 2015 car, with which he himself won the title).

This mill was renown for its novel split turbocharger design, which put the hot turbine and cooler-running compressor at opposite ends of the engine, improving packaging while reducing pipework and cooling requirements. To ensure the car is reliable enough for road use (and can accept commercial RON 98 petrol rather than race fuel), revs are limited to a still-stratospheric 11,000 rpm.

As on the F1 car, the engine is supported by two electric motor-generator units – the MGU-H (for Heat) draws energy from the exhaust and uses it to drive the compressor at low revs, while the MGU-K (for Kinetic) recuperates kinetic energy under deceleration, providing a boost of acceleration when required.

Where the One differs from the W07 Hybrid is the fitment of another pair of front-mounted motors, delivering all-wheel drive and torque vectoring across the front axle. Mercedes is claiming a total system output of over 1,000 PS as well as a top speed of over 350 km/h. The pushrod suspension was also derived from F1.

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