Some people aspired to be a Formula One race car driver for, you know, the fame and fortune, but if you really love cars, like cars that are as powerful as the hybrid technology offered by today’s Formula 1 race car, the Mercedes-AMG Project ONE is probably the closest anyone will ever get. The obvious pro of this ride is, it looks like a perfectly normal car that assimilate easily with the rest of the traffic. Never mind the exotic and the obvious, million dollar look. At least, you won’t look out of place or get overlooked by big rigs when you are on the road and also, you can at least bring a friend with you unlike a real Formula 1 race car.

Mercedes-AMG Project ONE Hybrid Supercar

Unveiled ahead of the International Motor Show (IAA), AKA Frankfurt Motor Show, this two-seater supersports show car is essentially a full-fledged Formula 1 car without the familiar made-for-F1 open wheel design and so, yes, under the hood, it has the Formula 1 hybrid technology found in today’s Formula 1 race car. The first in the world. This means Mercedes-AMG Project ONE is powered by the same 1.6L V6 hybrid petrol unit with direct injection and electrically assisted single turbocharger, mid mounted and (very) rev-happy, and two front axle mounted electric motors, each producing 120 kW.

The hybrid powertrain result in a total system output of more than 1,000 horses and affords it a top speed of over 350 km/h (217 mph), thereby putting the Project ONE right smack in the hypercar territory. This car is insanely fast. It is literally Formula 1 kind of fast and therefore, to tell you how fast it make the century sprint seems rather pointless. Instead, we let you in how fast it make the 200 km/h (124 mph) mark; under 6 seconds. That is brief moment it takes to reach 200 km/h from rest. However, the engine won’t be spinning at an insane 11,000 rpm like the current F1 race cars do because, you probably do not want to do an engine change after every commute and therefore, it uses commercially available Super Plus petrol (instead of racing fuel) to keep it significantly below the F1 engine speed limit and thereby increasing the engine’s longevity.

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Mercedes-AMG Project ONE Hybrid Supercar

Like we have said, this beast here is essentially a Formula 1 road car. Even the battery technology is inherited from Formula 1, sharing the same cells, arrangement and cooling system. The only difference is, the number of cells are trimmed to make it more practical for everyday use. Completing the drivetrain equation is a variable AMG performance 4MATIC+ that enables all-wheel drive, complete with torque vectoring as standard, and an automated AMG SPEEDSHIFT 8-speed manual transmission for blinding fast shifts.

In every aspect, Mercedes-AMG Project ONE is a race car in supercar guise, really. It is a show car that explores performance-oriented plug-in hybrid drive technology, further developments of suspension layouts and extended onboard electronics that will benefit future series production AMG Cars, Mercedes-Benz said. So, yeah. You can save yourself the hassle of hounding your local agent for this ride because, it ain’t coming true, at least, not for now.

Mercedes-AMG Project ONE Hybrid Supercar

Mercedes-AMG Project ONE Hybrid Supercar

Mercedes-AMG Project ONE Hybrid Supercar

All images courtesy of Daimler AG.

Published by Mike

Avid tech enthusiast, gadget lover, marketing critic and most importantly, love to reason and talk.