The Mercedes-AMG One, or Project One as it was previously known, is pretty much the closest anyone has ever come to putting a genuine Formula 1 car on the road and making it legal to drive in traffic.
Since that’s a massive undertaking, Mercedes-AMG have struggled to have the car ready on time, and delays have been an issue due to certain powertrain adjustments.
For example, you can afford throttle leakage in a Formula 1 car at 5,000 rpm. In a road car? Not so much. Especially since it needs to be able to idle at 1,200 rpm while also meeting all necessary emissions regulations.
While performance figures aren’t final, we do know that the Project One Concept was equipped with a plug-in hybrid powertrain combining a turbocharged 1.6-liter V6 engine with four electric motors for a total output of more than 1,000 PS (986 HP). It also had an all-electric range of 25 km (15.5 miles), which is nice, but we guess its targeted clientele couldn’t care less.
In a straight line, Mercedes-AMG claims that the Project One can go from zero to 200 km/h (124 mph) in under six seconds and max out north of 350 km/h (217 mph).
During his time with a stationary One inside a studio, Top Gear Magazine’s Jack Rix tried to go over everything that makes the upcoming hypercar such a special automobile, both inside and out. He also revealed that, on a relatively short circuit, the One could get quite close to an F1 car in terms of track time which, if true, will be a tremendous achievement.