With the 2020 Formula One season on hold, Spies Hecker takes the opportunity to look in-depth at the team’s livery, and the work that goes in to applying it
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team is the reigning FIA Formula One Constructors’ Champion, having cinched a world record sixth consecutive title at the end of the 2019 season. Its race cars are renowned for looking sleek in their iconic silver liveries every season, and Andrew Moody, Head of Paint and Graphics at Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, has relied on the customised support and tailored product offerings from Spies Hecker for more than six years.
A new colour
At first glance, the main difference to the 2020 livery is the addition of burgundy on the car, specifically on the front wing end plates, the rear wing end plates, the engine cover and most notably the roll hoop on the chassis. This injection of a new colour is thanks to Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team’s new Principal Partner, INEOS, as burgundy is the colour of its sports division, which includes its Tour de France and America’s Cup teams. The colour was digitally matched perfectly from one of the Team INEOS bikes, which was shipped to the Paint Shop in Brackley, UK, using the ColorDialog Phoenix spectrophotometer.
Moody says: “The burgundy isn’t quite as straightforward as it may look. There is also a five-colour fade from the burgundy into black, and in some areas on the race car it is across more than one component, so we need to ensure it is perfect. There is also a very fine black key line and a silver key line that outline the burgundy areas, and the INEOS name is painted in white, so the process is fairly complex.”
The Paint Shop uses a variety of Spies Hecker products, including Priomat Wash Primer 4075, then either Permasolid HS Vario Primer Surfacer 5340, a high solid primer surfacer, or Permasolid HS Performance Surfacer 5320, a fast drying 2K HS sanding surfacer. The Team’s colour gradients are painted with Permahyd Hi-TEC 480 Basecoat and the paint shop finish components with Permasolid HS Optimum Plus Clear 8650 or with Permasolid HS Race Clear 8700.