Mercedes AMG One: If the engine shuts down prematurely, it becomes a 'brick'

Getting Mercedes-AMG's F1-powered hypercar, the AMG One, on the road was no easy task. Introduced in September 2017, the car began production in August 2022. 

Image Credit: Mercedes-Benz

F1 champion Nico Rosberg ordered it in 2018 and waited six years to receive it. A recently released video reminds us just how delicate this road-going F1 car is.

AMG One's Startup Process

The AMG One's startup process has to be followed to the letter. If the engine shuts down before reaching its optimum temperature, the car can become a 'brick'. If this happens six times, Mercedes has to call someone from AMG with a laptop to unfreeze the car. The hypercar always starts in fully electric mode, and the combustion engine doesn't kick in until the catalytic converter reaches 932°F.

Development Challenges

Mercedes-AMG CTO Jochen Hermann said getting the software right was the most challenging part of the development process. Reducing the engine's idle speed from the F1 car's 5,000 rpm to 1,250 rpm was also a big challenge. Hermann admitted that the AMG One was the most complex car in Mercedes' history and will never be replicated. Only 275 units are being hand-built, and celebrities like Nico Rosberg and David Coulthard have driven the car.

Features and Experience

The features of the AMG One make it unique. The hypercar is so loud that Mercedes-AMG offers it with noise-canceling headphones as its noise can reach 120 decibels. During the development process of the car, it was even faster, but the engineers managed to make it a little more civilized.