$2.7 Million Mercedes Hypercar, Also Owned by Lewis Hamilton, Explodes in England

A Mercedes AMG One, valued at $2.7 million, as reported by the Sun, was reduced to ashes while getting towed on the M6 Motorway in Staffordshire. The engine of the exploded supercar is the same one used in the Formula 1 car driven by George Russell and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Surprisingly, the two units of the same car are owned by Hamilton, out of which one he gifted to his dad Anthony Hamilton.

Pictures taken after the incident show the burned chassis. Only 275 Mercedes AMG Ones have been made by the German brand, and now the number stands at 274. Mercedes have started an investigation to find out what caused a switched-off hybrid engine to blow up while it was suddenly transported.

Mercedes AMG One has the same engine as the Mercedes W14

The incident happened in the early morning of Wednesday. It happened on the northbound road of the M6 Motorway near junction 16. Even though firefighters arrived immediately, the car could not be salvaged and was reduced to cinders.

Mercedes uses a revised version of the hybrid engine that they used in their Formula 1 car for the 2017 season. They also use the Drag Reduction System that is used in their Formula 1 cars.

AMG boss Tobias Moers had once said during an interview, “Our F1 engine is far more durable than many people expect, and if you look at the load it must take in an F1 race compared to how it’s likely to be used in a street-legal machine, you can see it’s going to have a lot less work to do.” Therefore, it is quite interesting to see what his take would be regarding this issue.

A Mercedes spokesperson spoke about the incident and said, “We are aware of this incident involving a car that was being transported in a closed trailer as part of its assembly process. Fortunately, as far as we are aware, nobody was injured.” He added that their main aim at this point in time was to figure out what caused the fire.

 Lewis Hamilton owns two of the same car that exploded

Lewis Hamilton had worked on developing The Mercedes AMG One and had tested the prototypes of the car. The car can reach a top speed of 352 Kmph and has the record lap time for a road-legal production car around the Nurburgring Nordschleife, the Red Bull Ring in Austria, and Monza.

Apart from Hamilton, his former teammate Nico Rosberg has also purchased an AMG One alongside ex-Formula 1 driver David Coulthard.