Mercedes Turns Blue for Austin With One-Off MANUFAKTUR Livery

Mercedes will give its W17 a blue-accented look at COTA, complete with matching driver suits and a redesigned garage. But the team’s latest update package could matter considerably more than the new colors.

Mercedes will arrive at the United States Grand Prix with a fresh look as the team introduces a one-off MANUFAKTUR livery for the Circuit of the Americas.

The special design adds several shades of blue to the W17’s familiar silver, black and PETRONAS green color scheme. The blue treatment is most visible across the engine cover, sidepods and nose, creating a distinctive appearance without completely replacing Mercedes’ established identity.

The design promotes MANUFAKTUR, Mercedes-Benz’s personalization program, which allows customers to select exclusive colors, materials and interior finishes.

That theme will extend beyond the cars in Austin. Kimi Antonelli selected Steel Blue for his race suit, while George Russell chose Vintage Blue. The team garage will also receive a MANUFAKTUR makeover, and both drivers will use individually configured Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupés during the weekend.

Austin was not selected by accident.

According to Mercedes-Benz, the United States is MANUFAKTUR’s most important market. The company says one in every two Mercedes-Benz vehicles sold in the U.S. now includes at least one MANUFAKTUR option.

The livery may attract the initial attention, but Mercedes will also bring something far more important to the track.

After what team principal Toto Wolff described as difficult weekends in Malaysia and Singapore, Mercedes will run its latest update package on both cars at COTA. The team has spent the intervening period studying where it fell short and will be looking for an immediate response in Austin.

“We will run our latest update package on both cars as we continue to develop the car,” Wolff said. “The field is incredibly close, so we need to keep moving forward if we want to fight consistently at the front in the closing stages of the season.”

That gives Mercedes two separate stories to follow this weekend.

The first will be easy to see: a striking blue-accented W17 designed specifically for the United States Grand Prix.

The second will only become clear once the stopwatch starts. The special colors will disappear after Austin, but Mercedes will hope the progress delivered by its latest upgrades lasts much longer.