AS the exhilarating Formula One fervor escalates at the international racetrack in Shanghai, another wave of excitement is set to be generated by Mercedes-AMG in the cosmopolitan city.

Mercedes-AMG flags off its first media test drive event this year, featuring the complete family of seven Mercedes-AMG models available in China -- C 63 AMG, SL 63 AMG, SLK 55 AMG, CLS 63 AMG, ML 63 AMG, G 55 AMG and S 65 AMG.

Themed "Awaken Your Desire," the Mercedes-AMG Performance Experience Test Drive event brings together more than 400 enthusiasts among the media, dealers and customers to the Shanghai Tianmashan Circuit.

Over the three-day event, the seven AMG models will be put to the test at three specially designed routes at this FIA-certified international standard circuit. Whether it is about speed at the racetrack, car handling at the Autocross or even overcoming challenges at the off-road section, the Mercedes-AMG models perfectly demonstrate their unique performance in various road conditions as well as bring to life its rich heritage in motor sport.

"First, you don't have to be a professional racer to feel the speed and performance that our products offer," says Thomas Buehler, head of Mercedes-AMG China.

"By experiencing the full family of seven AMG models available in China at the time of F1 taking place, this marks a perfect expression of our motorsport legacy as well as relentless pursuit for performance," he says.

"It is exactly this belief in offering only the best in innovation, motor sport and heritage over 40 years that created the AMG of today -- a brand that epitomizes excellence, individualism and high performance," Buehler adds.

The event also sees former F1 champion Mika Hakkinen returning for the second year as Mercedes-AMG brand ambassador to China.

He also conducted hot laps with test drive participants to demonstrate AMG's unparalleled superior performance.

"Throughout my racing career, I have formed a strong bond with Mercedes-AMG as the brand continues to exceed my expectations with products that represent the perfect synthesis of superior power, acceleration, handling dynamics and expressive designs," Hakkinen says.

Having recorded a promising 21 percent growth in 2009, Mercedes-AMG is also currently running a nationwide road show across 18 cities in nine month -- which marks the most comprehensive and largest test-drive initiative since AMG entered the Chinese market. The Mercedes-AMG Performance Experience Test Drive event offers not only a simulated racing experience but also the thrill charged by dynamically-powered AMG engines -- alongside the F1 excitement firing up in Shanghai.

The complete family of seven Mercedes-AMG models will undoubtedly bring Chinese customers one step closer to the vehicles that personify true F1 driving spirit, the Finnish racing legend adds.

Silver Arrows

Another F1 highlight for Mercedes this year is the return of the Silver Arrows in the 2010 Formula One World Championship.

The new MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One Team begins the latest chapter in the proud 116-year history of motorsport success for Daimler and Mercedes-Benz.

The Silver Arrows were born on June 3, 1934 when Manfred von Brauchitsch won the Eifelrennen at the N?rburgring at the wheel of a Mercedes W25. The car's white paintwork had been sanded down to meet weight requirements and the car raced in the silver color of its aluminium body.

On July 4, 1954, the Silver Arrows returned for the first time: Juan Manuel Fangio drove his W196 streamliner to victory in the French Grand Prix at Reims which he won ahead of his team mate Karl Kling. It was the first Formula One race win for Mercedes-Benz.

"With today's presentation of our new MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One Team, a new and certainly the most important chapter of over 100 years of Mercedes-Benz motorsport history begins," says Norbert Haug, vice president of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.

"The new Formula One season will offer challenges which will be bigger than ever before in over 60 years of the sport's history.

"We look forward to the cooperation with our drivers Nico Rosberg who has enormous capabilities and perspectives, and with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher who is no less motivated than at the time when he began his professional motor racing career with Mercedes-Benz and then made his first step into such a successful Formula One career with our support," says Haug.

Haug embraces the company's new title partner PETRONAS, as well as co-investor Aabar/IPIC and other team partners.

"I warmly welcome all our colleagues from last year's world championship team Brawn GP, headed by Ross Brawn and Nick Fry, to the Mercedes family," he says.

"There are challenging tasks ahead of us and we all will tackle them with power, consistency and full motivation."

Mercedes-Benz has been a force in motorsport since 1894. The first four cars home in the race from Paris to Rouen on July 22 that year were powered by a 954cc V2 engine designed by Gottlieb Daimler. This victory set the ball rolling and in subsequent decades, the marque won countless races.

For the Nice-Salon-Nice race of 1901, Daimler's cars were entered under the name Mercedes for the first time, named after the daughter of the Daimler importer and racing driver, Emil Jellinek. The event was won by the Mercedes of the German driver Wilhelm Werner.

Safety car

Significantly, in the 2010 F1 Grand Prix season, SLS AMG and C 63 AMG have been respectively appointed as the safety and medical cars ? of which the revolutionary SLS AMG is set to be introduced in China this year.

When the new Formula One season got underway in Manama/Bahrain, it marked the debut of the most spectacular and powerful official F1 safety car of all time.

The job of the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, which was launched on March 27 this year, is to ensure maximum safety in F1.

The "gullwing" model replaces the SL 63 AMG, which was used as the official F1 safety car in 2008 and 2009. As in the previous two years, the C 63 AMG Estate will be used as the official F1 medical car for the 2010 season.

From March, the official F1 safety car will be deployed whenever hazardous situations such as accidents or bad weather endanger normal racing.

The SLS AMG, piloted by Bernd Mayl°?nder (38, from Germany), will be on standby in the pit lane throughout the entire race. When radioed by Race Control, the former DTM driver and his co-driver, FIA man Pete Tibbetts (44, from the UK) will take to the track at the head of the field in order to guide the F1 race cars safely around the circuit.

The SLS AMG is not the only AMG high-performance car to be involved in the F1 World Championship: as in 2008 and 2009, the C 63 AMG Estate is the official F1 medical car responsible for ensuring rapid emergency response in the event of an accident.

The lightning-fast estate car follows the F1 field on the start lap because the race cars are still bunched extremely closely together during this critical phase.