Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon, Pascal Wehrlein, At Sindelfingen Event – Video
All the glamour of motorsport at the Mercedes-Benz works in Sindelfingen: Formula One World Champion Nico Rosberg and his Silver Arrows Formula One Team express their gratitude for the support they received en route to the World Championship hat-trick.
A big thank-you to the workers: Formula One stars Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon visit Sindelfingen
Nico Rosberg says goodbye to his Mercedes-Benz colleagues after announcing his retirement from Formula One
Other stars up close and personal: The entire Mercedes-AMG DTM Team were there, as well as talented newcomers and motorsport legends
From Formula One to DTM: Demo runs at the testing track in Sindelfingen for historic and modern-day racing cars built by Mercedes-AMG
“THANK YOU!” – this was the heartfelt message delivered by Formula One World Champion Nico Rosberg and team-mate Lewis Hamilton together with their Silver Arrows crew on Saturday. After recording a Formula One Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championship hat-trick, it was high time to express gratitude for the immense support given by colleagues at Mercedes-Benz in the past three seasons. Rosberg also took the opportunity to say good-bye to everyone at Mercedes-Benz after announcing his retirement yesterday.
16,500 employees accepted the invitation to return to the Mercedes-Benz plant in Sindelfingen on Saturday for a celebration of the Formula One hat-trick with the freshly crowned World Champion Nico Rosberg, three-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton and the entire Silver Arrows team. The banner headline for the event was ‘Motorsport meets Sindelfingen’, so the employees and their families were treated to all the fun and glamour of the racetrack during the course of the afternoon.
There was a pit stop contest in which employees could try their hand at changing wheels and discover for themselves the standard required of the professional crews who fit a car with four new tyres in under two seconds on a race weekend. In addition, there was an opportunity to demonstrate driving skills under track conditions on the DTM simulator. The drivers and team officials also gave fascinating insights into paddock life in a number of interview sessions.
But the demo laps on the Sindelfingen testing track were surely the highlight of the day. Among the vehicles given an outing were the Formula One World Championship-winning cars of 2014 and 2016 as well as various DTM and customer sports vehicles such as the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Not only the Formula One stars Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon took their turn at the wheel but also the entire Mercedes-AMG DTM Team as well as junior talents such as Maximilian Günther and Mick Schumacher. To round off the spectacular, there were appearances by motorsport legends David Coulthard, Bernd Mayländer and DTM record champion Bernd Schneider.