By Graham K. Rogers

I have followed Grand Prix racing for several years: I can remember when the engines were in the front and names like Lancia, Cooper, BRM, along with drivers such as Surtees, Moss and Clark were making the headlines. Over the years I have been lucky enough to visit a few European circuits; and with my family home not far from Silverstone, I was able to see many races there of all classes including Formula One.

Some years one team will dominate. In recent times we have been aware of the almost-unbeatable Ferrari with Michael Schumacher and of Red Bull, with Sebastian Vettel. Last season, Mercedes, running its W05 F1 Hybrid car, was in almost total control with the two drivers strong contenders for the World Championship almost up till the last race. The pairing of current World Champion, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will continue into the 2015 season and the Mercedes AMG Petronas Team will be joined by Epson as an official team partner.

As such, Epson will provide its expertise in areas of inkjet printers, scanners, 3LCD projectors and wearables, including smart glasses and health/sports sensing products. Logos and branding will be on the cars as well as helmet visors and racing suits of the two drivers. The livery will be revealed on 1 February when official testing begins at Jerez in Spain.

Both Epson and team principal Toto Wolff feel that the two will complement each other, particularly in areas of performance and the strong commitment to minimizing environmental impact, like reducing CO2 emissions. Race locations will allow Epson to showcase its technologies and products to a wider audience.

See also:

• Epson Global site

• Full press release on Epson/Mercedes AMG Petronas tie-up

• Formula One Calendar 2015

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. He is now continuing that in the Bangkok Post supplement, Life.