Mercedes reveals plan to quit Formula E just days after winning a World Championship double
Mercedes-Benz has announced plans to pull out of Formula E just days after winning the drivers’ and constructors’ championship.
The German car maker said it would step away from the electric vehicle racing series at the end of next season.
It comes less than 72 hours after Nyck de Vries sealed Mercedes-EQ’s first Formula E titles at the season finale in Berlin at the weekend.
The loss of one of the industry’s biggest names will be seen as a blow to the series, which has succeeded in establishing itself since launching in 2014.
“Mercedes-Benz today announced that it will conclude its ABB FIA Formula E success story as a team entrant and manufacturer at the end of Season 8, in August 2022,” it said.
The manufacturer said it planned to divert funds from Formula E into creating electric vehicles for consumers.
Mercedes will, however, continue to compete in Formula 1, where it and Lewis Hamilton are also reigning world champions.
“Mercedes-Benz made the strategic announcement in late July that the brand will be ready to go all-electric at the end of the decade, where market conditions allow,” it added.
“As part of the new strategic direction, the brand has deliberately chosen to shift resources for this accelerated ramp-up of electrification, including the development of three electric-only architectures to be launched in 2025.
“Therefore, Mercedes will reallocate resource away from its ABB FIA Formula E World Championship programme and towards applying the lessons learned in competition to product development in series.
“Moving forward, the company will concentrate its works motorsport activities on Formula 1, reinforcing the sport’s status as the fastest laboratory for developing and proving sustainable and scalable future performance technologies.”
Mercedes only began competing in Formula E in earnest two years ago, having used the previous season to lay the groundwork in an alliance with the HWA team.
“We can be proud of our achievements in Formula E and especially the double world championship win, an historic milestone in Mercedes-Benz motorsport history,” said Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff.