George Russell has dropped a hint that the new Mercedes W13 could see the Brackley-based team revert to their traditional silver colour scheme for 2022. Rumours have circulated since the middle of 2021 that Mercedes will ditch their black livery in order to return to silver, coinciding with the start of F1's new era in terms of the technical regulations and car aesthetics. Mercedes switched from silver to black ahead of the 2020 season, as a visual representation of their support for Lewis Hamilton's endorsement of the 'Black Lives Matter' movement. The livery was then kept on for 2021, before the rumours of a switch back began to bubble up. Russell, who was at Mercedes' Brackley factory this week to settle in with his new colleagues ahead of his maiden season with the team, hinted a livery change has happened after the two years of running in black. "I saw a show car with the 2022 livery on, which looks great!" Russell said at the end of the day. "I can't wait to show you all that. I'm sure you're going to absolutely love it. No giving away what colour it is, you'll have to wait and see..." The W13 will be launched to the public on 18 February.
Hamilton says return to silver would be "a nice change"
Last season, Hamilton was asked about whether he would have any complaints if Mercedes did revert to silver after taking the step of moving away from their traditional motorsport colour scheme. "I don't have a particular feeling towards it," Hamilton told RacingNews365.com and other members of the media over the Russian Grand Prix weekend. "I'm not involved in that for next year [2022], and it is originally a Silver Arrows. "When I asked if we could go to make the car black last year [2020], in terms of the symbolism, and what we intend to do moving forward in terms of support, I wasn't expecting it to last particularly long, and we carried it into a second season, which is awesome. "If it goes back, it will be a nice change. It doesn't deter us from the changes that we are making internally, as we continue to truly push for diversity, even working with all of our partners."
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