AMG Project ONE's Roar Makes Lewis Hamilton Feel like on His First Driving Exam

The Formula One-based hypercar had a lot of hype built-up around it, but when the time came, it sure as hell did not disappoint. With the powertrain all but revealed in advance, the only question marks left concerned its exterior design, but the Merc delivered. Not that it would be easy to screw up in the visual department with this kind of vehicles.

Even while standing, the Project ONE looks like it's being sucked down by a vacuum while simultaneously being stomped on by the foot of a giant dinosaur. It's so low a lot of people wouldn't even dare to attempt climbing on board, let alone succeed.

It wasn't an easy task for Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One team driver Lewis Hamilton, a man whose physique allows him to squeeze into that claustrophobic single seater they use in the races. However, being the team's number one driver and actively involved in the development of the vehicle, Mercedes-AMG could not have found a better person to have this F1-inspired hypercar delivered onto the stage in Frankfurt.

You would expect somebody who drives Formula One cars for a living - and does it quite well - to have their nerves impervious to anything with four wheels and an engine (plus four motors in this case, but, hey, who's counting?). At best, they might flinch at a rock crawl in an extreme off-roader - something completely different from what they're used to - but a race car?

And yet you can easily sense how nervous Hamilton was during this live streaming session. Sure, he was about to go on stage with Dieter Zetsche, the CEO of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, and speak in front of a crowd, so that might have played a role as well.

Scroll forward to around the four-minute mark when the technicians fire up the ONE's 1.6-liter V6 engine, and you won't think that anymore. This car is just savage. Whoever will drive it, will do so with earplugs because they would otherwise go deaf in less than a minute. And we've only heard it just above idle. Imagine what it would sound like at 11,000 rpm. Make sure to stick your fingers in your ears before you do, though.