Mercedes Crowned Winner of inaugural Grace Influential Positive Impact Award

• Mercedes’ Accelerate 25 initiative voted to have delivered most positive impact by expert industry judging panel

• Top three completed by McLaren’s Racing Engage program and Alfa Romeo’s Save the Children partnership

• Winner announced at Pirelli motorhome celebration attended by senior industry figures including Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media

At a celebration attended by senior industry figures at this weekend’s FORMULA 1® GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2023, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team was announced as the winner of the inaugural Grace Influential Positive Impact Award.

With award-winning F1 presenter Louise Goodman as host and partner Pirelli providing generous hospitality, guests were invited to view video snapshots of the submissions that demonstrated the progress being made across the Championship as it moves towards a sustainable future. A high bar was set, with entries spanning causes related to environmental sustainability, technological innovation, women's empowerment, talent development, and health.

Mercedes won the day with their ambitious and broad-reaching Accelerate 25 program, through which the team has pledged to recruit 25% of new team members coming from under-represented groups by 2025. In just two years they have already made great strides towards this target, increasing representation of female team members by 25% and tripling the number of employees from a minority ethnic background.

Toto Wolff accepts the Chihuly Studios designed award on behalf of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team for winning the inaugural Grace Influential Positive Impact Award! {pictured: Brisa Carleton, Toto Wolff, HSH Prince Albert; Toto Wolff, Leslie Chihuly, HSH Prince Albert; Sky Sports interviewing Toto Wolff and HSH Prince Albert}

In alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 4, 5, and 10, Mercedes is focused on inspiring and motivating talented students from under-represented groups towards STEM careers through partnerships with the Mulberry Schools Trust, the Stemettes, the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers, the Sutton Trust, and the Business Disability Forum. McLaren Racing and Alfa Romeo received special commendation for their initiatives, which placed second and third respectively.

Celebrations continued in the FORMULA 1® GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2023 pitlane on Saturday, when His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco, Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media, Brisa Carleton, CEO of the Princess Grace Foundation, and Stefano Domenicali, CEO of Formula 1, presented Mercedes Team Principle Toto Wolff with the winning trophy, Gilded Mediterranean Blue Venetian with Speckled Leaves 2022 by renowned artist Dale Chihuly.

Brisa Carleton, CEO of Princess Grace Foundation, said: “We were thrilled to see how enthusiastically the Formula 1 teams have taken up the spirit of the Grace Influential Positive Impact Award; the standard of entries has been superlative and has set the bar extremely high in this first year of the award’s existence. Mercedes is doing astonishing work to diversify and open up the Championship, and it is a privilege to showcase the work they and all teams are doing to drive sustainability forward in Formula 1.”

Bradley Lord, Communications Director at Mercedes, said: “We are delighted to be recognized as the first recipients of the Princess Grace Positive Impact Award, especially given the quality of the projects that are happening across all the F1 teams. It was great to see how all the teams are using the sport’s global platform to inspire and enable opportunity. At Mercedes, we believe that a more diverse and inclusive team drives greater performance on track. Led by our fantastic Human Resources group, Accelerate 25 was launched in December 2020 to realize every advantage of becoming a more diverse team. So far, we have seen positive changes in the make-up of our team and created inspirational experiences for young people to show how F1 can be a STEM career opportunity in the future. This is a long-term commitment, and we are only at the beginning of our journey; we will continue our work in the months and years ahead, to help build a more inclusive sport and become a more performant Mercedes team.”

Mario Isola, Head of Motorsport at Pirelli said: “It was a pleasure to support the inaugural Grace Influential Positive Impact Award. The event, hosted by Pirelli, showcased inspiring projects that can help make the world of Formula 1 more inclusive and sustainable. The candidate teams presented a diverse range of activities that demonstrated their strong commitment to these topics. It's clear that progress has already been made and tangible results achieved. I extend my congratulations to all the nominees, as well as to the winning Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. I'd also like to express gratitude to the Princess Grace Foundation for enlightening us about the remarkable efforts being made in the area of social and environmental sustainability.”