Veni Vidi Vici. And I withdraw. In its second official season in Formula E, Mercedes scored a prestigious double by winning the two electric world titles: with Nyck de Vries the drivers one and together with Stoffel Vandoorne the constructors one. Not even the time to celebrate (for the Dutch champion there is talk of a landing in Formula 1) “the historic milestone” as Toto Wolff, the head of Motorsport defined it, that the house with the star announces his retirement in starting from the end of the next world championship, the eighth, which will start in Saudi Arabia on January 28th.
Last December, the farewell was anticipated by Audi and BMW, houses for which the Berlin Sunday ePrix was the last. The manufacturer of the Four Rings had explained that they were leaving to focus on the Dakar with an electric SUV with extended range and on other competitions, while for that of the Elica Formula E had already exhausted its innovative potential. At least so far, Toyota, the first manufacturer in the world, had rejected the zero-emissions circuit precisely because it was not considered a real laboratory, unlike Le Mans, for example.
Mercedes motivated its decision with the new strategic redistribution of resources, destined for the development of electric vehicles. New CEO Ola Källenius has slashed spending, heavily slashed employment and accelerated electrification: full conversion is expected by the end of the decade. The goal of zero emissions has apparently also involved the “sacrifice” of the most politically correct class of motorsport that exists, at least currently. However, Formula E stood out for a certain “morality” of costs, estimated for a top team at around fifty million. A figure that for a company that distributed 1.4 billion euros in coupons to shareholders for the year of the pandemic is substantially ridiculous.
The reasons for the farewell are probably to be found in the diplomatic folds of the official communiqué. In which we read that Mercedes confirms its commitment to Formula 1, considered the laboratory for the fastest development of sustainable technologies designed to guarantee high performance also in the future. And also that both the electric AMG.EA expected for 2025 and the Vision EQXX will derive from platforms that will exploit the knowledge acquired thanks to the premier class of motorsport and Formula E. It seems to understand that in the coming years Formula 1 will guarantee to builders the possibility of developing alternative and green systems.
The organizers have always stated that they have numerous requests to join Formula E, but so far it is not yet known who takes over from Audi and Bmw. Mercedes has made it known that evaluations are underway about possible “options to allow the team to continue competing in Formula E even during the Gen 3 era”, ie the new generation single-seater. Among the hypotheses there is also the sale of the stable to new owners. There are currently two customer teams: the British Envision Virgin, which relied on Audi, and the Monegasque Rokit Venturi, which gravitates in the orbit of Mercedes itself and whose number one is Susie Stoddart, wife of Toto Wolff. The possible scenarios are different.