Morad, Aron Promoted to Mercedes-AMG Factory Status

Mercedes-AMG has promoted Daniel Morad and Ralf Aron to its lineup of ‘Performance’ factory drivers, confirmed as part of a 14-person roster revealed on Wednesday.

The Stuttgart brand released its initial batch of factory drivers last December, when it confirmed that it had signed both Maxime Martin and Jayden Ojeda and stated at the time that its lineup of drivers “will gradually be extended.”

Now, it has released the full lineup of factory talent it will deploy across its customer racing activities this season, which also reveals a number of notable departures.

Its roster of Performance drivers will now include Morad and Aron, who both held other roles with the brand previously.

Morad was classed as an ‘Expert’ driver last year, while Aron has been upgraded from the rank of Junior driver.

They join Lucas Auer, Philip Ellis, Maro Engel, Maximilian Goetz, Jules Gounon, Mikael Grenier, Maxime Martin, Fabian Schiller and Luca Stolz.

Arjun Maini, who was named a Performance driver last year, has left Mercedes-AMG to take up a new role as Ford Performance factory driver.

Adam Christodoulou, meanwhile, remains the brand’s only ‘Expert’ driver in the wake of Morad’s promotion as well as several departures.

Felipe Fraga and David Reynolds, who were both named part of the Expert roster last year, have been removed, while Daniel Juncadella is also no longer listed.

Juncadella was classified as Expert driver last year after becoming a Corvette factory driver but has now departed fully, signaling the end of the Spaniard’s decade-plus relationship with the brand.

Meanwhile, Mercedes-AMG’s roster of Junior drivers has also shrunk and now consists of new signing Ojeda and Tom Kalender, with the latter set to make his DTM debut later this year.

Frank Bird, Jordan Love, Jusuf Owega and David Schumacher have all been removed from the roster, with the latter two joining Maini in becoming Ford factory drivers instead.

Thomas Jaeger will remain test and development driver for the brand, with Elias Seppanen named as official esports driver.

“We are contesting the season with a total of 14 Mercedes-AMG Drivers,” said Stefan Wendl, Mercedes-AMG head of customer racing.

“We can fulfil our customer requests for their racing commitments in the world’s most prestigious series with a very good mix of experienced and up-and-coming talent.

“The line-up also enables us to support the Mercedes-AMG Performance Teams in formats such as the DTM, the IGTC and the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. I am convinced that we have created a good balance with this driver squad in order to be globally successful once again.”