The fact that Mercedes (Mercedes-Benz) has been actively involved in the world of auto racing and motor sports (motorcycle racing as well as F1 and IRL) for more than six decades (60 years) is something that you auto racing fans may or may not already know about. If you were not aware that Mercedes has been the power plant behind some of the best known wins in auto racing all over the world you might want to start doing a bit of reading to get to know the history of the sport that you love to watch, listen to and cheer for.
One thing (or should we say many of the things) that Mercedes-Benz has been known for is all of the safety innovations that they have built into their cars (both race cars and passenger cars) are safety measures that have kept many of the race drivers from getting seriously injured or killed during the course of a race (this also extends to the passenger cars that Mercedes-Benz builds). In this way it really can be said that the innovations that have made auto racing much safer over the past few decades have paved the way for much safer passenger cars that travel the roads everyday. The Anti-lock Brakes (or ABS anti-locking braking system), Airbags and Crash Crumple Zones that have made our everyday commuting and travels much safer have come about as a result of needing to make sure that race car drivers are able to walk away from serious crashes on track.