#Mercedes announce 50%+ reduction in CO2 emissions and significant increase in female and ethnic minority workforce

[f1]

Mercedes announce 50% reduction in CO2 emissions and significant increase in female and ethnic minority workforce

Mercedes have revealed they have reduced their CO2 emissions by more than 50%, and increased female team members to 15% of their workforce, as part of their continuing sustainability and diversity efforts. The Silver Arrows have launched numerous programmes to improve their environmental impact and diversity and inclusion efforts in recent years, including Accelerate 25 which was announced in 2020 to increase the team's proportion of female employees to 25% within five years. READ MORE: Shovlin revels in 'satisfying' double podium in Hungary – and warns Mercedes have 'more coming' And the team announced on Thursday that Accelerate 25 has seen female team members rise from 12% to 15% of their workforce and employees from ethnic minority backgrounds increase from 3% to 7%, while up to June 2022, 32% of new team members had joined from under-represented groups. Furthermore, Mercedes are continuing to work with the Mulberry Schools Trust, the Stemettes, the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers and new partners the Sutton Trust and British Disability Forum – while Lewis Hamilton announced the formation of his charitable partnership, Ignite, last year. Mercedes have exceeded a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions The team’s sustainability report also states that Mercedes have exceeded their ambition to cut their CO2 emissions by 50% by 2022. They continue to target a net zero carbon footprint by 2030 including a 100% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions – emissions respectively caused directly or indirectly by the team – by 2026. READ MORE: Formula 1 on course to deliver 100% sustainable fuels for 2026 Mercedes recently invested in Sustainable Aviation Fuel to reduce Scope 3 emissions – a consequence of their activities, but not directly or indirectly emitted by the team. They also target a 75% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2030 and 25% carbon removal by 2030. Finally, Mercedes’s second annual Sustainability Report details their charitable and community impact. The Silver Arrows have supported their local community and local council through charitable initiatives, community events and school outreach, the team members having raised almost £75,000 towards their December 2022 target of £100,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK. " I am very proud of our team for the achievements that we have made so far and the industry-leading strategies we have committed to in the years ahead," said Toto Wolff “Motor racing is fuelled by passion. We operate in the fastest, most dynamic sport in the world and we have a responsibility to use that global platform to be more than leaders; we want to be pioneers,” said Team Principal Toto Wolff. “Over the past few years, we have worked tirelessly to change and better understand the impact we have on the world. We’re fully committed to sustainable high-performance. This is the future for us all. READ MORE: F1 continues push to hit Net Zero Carbon by 2030 target “Whether deploying our resources to drive technological advances that will help society address the environmental challenges that we face, or committing to increase the diversity of our workforce, and supporting those in need in our local communities, our passion isn’t just in the cars you see on track, it’s across everything we do. “We are a team of problem solvers; and we’re setting ourselves ambitions on how to become more sustainable across all that we do. We are at the start of this journey but have committed to extremely challenging targets because we are all in on the race towards a sustainable tomorrow. I am very proud of our team for the achievements that we have made so far and the industry-leading strategies we have committed to in the years ahead. “What happens on the track is inextricably linked to what happens in the world outside, and that drives the entire team to continually go faster and further.” via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

[f1]

[f1]

Hamilton takes heart from his 2009 season as Mercedes close in on the front runners

Lewis Hamilton has had – by his lofty standards – a difficult start to the year as Mercedes have struggled to extract pace from their car. But as the Silver Arrows have begun to claw their way back to the front, the seven time world champion says he's taking heart from his 2009 season with McLaren, which began with similarly poor results, but ended with the Brit having taken two victories. “The beginning of the year was not miserable because there could always be way worse but just in terms of… I would say from a driver's perspective, understanding this car was… it was so confusing,” Hamilton said, explaining Mercedes' early season struggles. THROUGH THE VISOR: Sergio Perez recalls his first F1 podium in Malaysia, ten years on “We were trying so many different things, we're trying to advance and [had] no trust in the machine beneath you, particularly the rear end. And that's really held us back a little bit. “So, to now be in a position where we're starting to understand the car a little bit more, we've got more consistency coming up, we're seeing more consistency, it’s given us much more of an enjoyable drive. "We still lack performance in some of those areas but we're slowly getting there. But it's like small chips, just constantly just chipping away at it.” The W13 hasn't been an easy car to unlock As well as the results on paper, Mercedes have closed the gap on the timing sheets to the front running teams, taking a clear step forward from the midfield. But while their race pace was improving at a rate of knots, their single lap speed was still lacking to Ferrari and Red Bull – until Hungary, when Hamilton’s team mate George Russell took a stunning pole position. “We’ve just got to keep pushing. Every weekend we're hoping that we're going to get a little bit closer,” said Hamilton, who is the only driver in F1 history to have won a race in every year he has competed. And off the back of two second place finishes, that elusive win in 2022 suddenly doesn’t look so far-fetched heading into the autumn. READ MORE: Mercedes announce 50%+ reduction in CO2 emissions and significant increase in female and ethnic minority workforce Even Hamilton who openly admits to possessing a patchy memory when it comes to his own racing history, has started to draw comparisons with his early career struggles at McLaren back in 2009: “I remember getting in the car in Portimão I think it was and it was horrendous to drive,” he said. “It was the worst car that I had driven apart from the engine was good. I remember the struggles of that year, qualifying 15th or whatever it was in the first race and then just continuously chipping away. 2009 was a tricky year for Hamilton - but one that still saw him record two race wins “This year, at the start a season, very, very similar when we were in February sitting down in the room… we’d got a lot of performance on the car, a lot of confidence, like, yeah, the car’s going to be good and then you get in the thing and it was bouncing and it's taken us a long time to fix that. “But I would say this experience is… it’s impressive to see a group of people just continuously not giving up. I think we haven't made that big step that we made in 2009 [yet]. We’re not giving up, we're staying pedal to the metal.” DATA DEEP DIVE: Was Toto Wolff right? Could Hamilton have won in Hungary without his DRS problem? While Hamilton didn’t manage to win in Budapest as he did with McLaren in 2009, finishing second is a good springboard for the rest of the season. He went on to win again in that troubled 2009 season, in Singapore… Which isn’t too far away, coming up after the first triple-header of Spa-Monza-Zandvoort which kicks off the second half of the season. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com