Lewis Hamilton’s car at the US Grand Prix has a tribute to one of their engineers — David Perry — who recently passed away due to cancer. Mercedes have put his name on their car in Austin to remember his contribution to their team’s success in F1.
The Silver Arrows posted on their social media accounts a picture of Perry’s name written under Hamilton‘s #44 on his W15. Their post caption read, “Our much-loved colleague David Perry lost a brave battle with cancer earlier this month.” The caption added,
“His courageous spirit leaves an indelible mark on us all – and we are proud to carry his name this weekend on the W15 he helped to create”.
View this post on Instagram
Perry was a composite laminator for Mercedes. For the unaware, a composite laminator usually works with materials used for the manufacturing of the car — which are carbon fiber, polymer, and kevlar among others.
Perry’s job required him to work with these materials to produce the required composite materials such as carbon fiber-reinforced polymer from which the team makes the chassis of the car. Furthermore, there is also a composite material of kevlar and rubber used to make the fuel tank of the F1 car.
Naturally, Perry was one of the people who are fundamental to the manufacturing of the cars at Mercedes. While it may be a ground-level operational role, for the Brackley outfit, all its engineers and technicians are an integral part of the F1 operation.
While his LinkedIn page has been deleted, Google has kept an honorary carousel of it to honor the Mercedes engineer. Moreover, the Silver Arrows would like to make the US GP weekend a memorable one to further pay tribute to Perry.
