Mercedes decided to use its Formula 1 team to promote the in-house tuner AMG.

So Mercedes Petronas GP team has been renamed to MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team. it’ll come to effect from 2012 season. They are currently working on a new car for next year, codenamed F1 W03. It is set for official track debut at the second winter test of 2012, on 21 February at Barcelona.

Hopefully the new car and the new name will be luckier for Mercedes and their drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.

Mercedes-Benz Formula One powertrain facility, located in Brixworth, UK will also be renamed to Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains. AMG is not only responsible for Mercedes’ high-end sports models, they are also the motorpsort arm of the company and have a long and glorious history in DTM.

Norbert Haug, Vice President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, said: “Our new team name fuses the proud traditions of AMG and the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows at the pinnacle of motorsport. These three letters are synonymous with high technology, sporting performance and excitement and this step is a further strong sign of the strategic commitment Mercedes-Benz has made to Formula One. 16 of the 24 drivers on the grid at the season’s final Grand Prix in Brazil have, or have had, a connection to Mercedes-Benz. In addition to the role of a works team, our commitment to Formula One comprises the customer engine programme and supply of the official Safety and Medical Cars.”

Ola Källenius, Chairman of Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commented: “The Mercedes AMG brand promises ‘Driving Performance’ – and what better embodies this philosophy than the intense competitive arena of Formula One? It is an historic first for the AMG name to be associated to the works Silver Arrows team, and offers fantastic opportunities: first, to further build the sporting identity of the Mercedes AMG brand through one of the world’s most-watched and most successful sports; second, to explore and deliver technology transfer between road and track. This is already being practised with the SLS AMG E-Cell project, whose electric powertrain will be developed as a joint venture between Mercedes AMG and our F1 engine specialists in Brixworth.”

Team Principal Ross Brawn concluded: “We are very proud to reveal our new team name today. It adds another strong performance element to our team’s identity and, by virtue of being shared between Brackley and Brixworth, will forge even stronger links within our team. At the factory, we have been focused for some time on the challenge of 2012, and our very clear ambition to move forward up the grid next year. As always, the winter development and manufacturing processes are a trade-off between time for finding performance in the factory, and time for delivering that performance during pre-season testing. We believe that the decision to run the car at the second winter test is the optimum compromise for our design and development programme with F1 W03.”