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Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton had a big part in unveiling the marque’s Project ONE hypercar. He drove it onto the stage at the Frankfurt Auto Show and made a few statements about the exotic, touting its capabilities and similarities to his current Formula One car. However, one claim that stood out above the rest was when he called out his own rival — Ferrari.
The Brit was involved in the Project One’s development process from the start, giving feedback and advice to brand engineers. His excitement was visible on stage when he drove the concept out before the massive crowd with his smile looking similar to that of his last race win at Monza.
“I’m so happy to be here. I helped develop this car. Even though that’s the first time I’ve felt the engine start … Driving a race car is the most thrilling part of my job.”
He joked that he’d be “happy to have the first one,” even though the limited run of 275 Project One production models has already been sold out.
Hamilton has been driving with Mercedes since 2013, and during that time, he’s faced his fair share of competitors from Maranello. As it appears, he doesn’t put a stop to that on the track, saying that AMG could build a far better road car than Ferrari. He is quoted explaining to Top Gear in a report:
“I love cars. And I’ve been saying to Mercedes for so long, why don’t you do a real car? Like, you’ve got AMG sports cars, but I’m talking about a supercar. Why is Ferrari building these supercars? We can build a better car than them. We build a better racing car than them, why don’t you guys build something that takes Mercedes to another stratosphere. And eventually I guess, after I’ve been saying it for ten years, so eventually they’ve gone ahead with it, and I think that’s cool.”
The three-time F1 champ added that he had been in conversation with AMG bosses about a car like this for quite some time. His contributions to the Project One were long in the works according to Hamilton, and he thinks that it will be the closest thing to experience his own Formula One car on the road.
“The problem is that there’s no road car in the world that could come close to what it feels like in my Formula One car. Because of the weight, aerodynamics, the sense of position, the thrill that you get. But this is going to be the closest thing.”
This comes after Hamilton had admitted earlier in the year that Ferrari had built a better F1 car for this 2017 season. Regardless of his stance within the motorsport realm, Lewis seems pretty confident about the future of AMG’s road car division.
