Mercedes AMG F1 Team
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| Surname | Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport |
|---|---|
| Companies | Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd |
| Company headquarters |
Brackley , United Kingdom
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| Team boss | Toto Wolff |
| Technical Director | James Allison |
| 2020 season | |
| driver | (44) Lewis Hamilton (77) Valtteri Bottas 
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| Test driver |
 Stoffel Vandoorne Esteban Gutiérrez
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| chassis | F1 W11 EQ Performance |
| engine | F1 M11 EQ Performance |
| tires | Pirelli |
| statistics | |
| First Grand Prix | France 1954 |
| Race driven | 217 |
| Constructors' championship | 6 ( 2014 , 2015 , 2016 , 2017 , 2018 , 2019 ) |
| Drivers World Championship | 8 ( 1954 , 1955 , 2014 , 2015 , 2016 , 2017 , 2018 , 2019 ) |
| Race wins | 108 |
| Pole positions | 118 |
| Fastest laps | 78 |
| Position 2019 | 1. (739 points) |
| Points | 5515.14 |
| (Status: Belgian Grand Prix 2020) | |
The Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team has been the works team of the German automobile manufacturer Daimler AG in Formula 1 since the 2010 season . It emerged from the British Brawn GP racing team . The team is based in Brackley , UK , but competes with a German license. The engines are manufactured by Mercedes AMG HPP in Brixworth and also delivered to customer teams.
The Mercedes-Benz brand has a long tradition in Grand Prix racing. Both Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie. were participants in the first official motorsport event Paris-Rouen in 1894 before they merged, and in 1903 Daimler won a circuit race for the first time with the Gordon Bennett Cup . After the merger, the Silver Arrows dominated the international motorsport scene in the second half of the 1930s, and Rudolf Caracciola won the European Grand Prix Championship , the most important championship at the time, several times . Based on this era, the Mercedes racing cars are still referred to as the Silver Arrows today.
After the end of the Second World War , Mercedes-Benz was temporarily involved in motor racing again. In 1954 and 1955 , the Mercedes works team won two world championship titles with the Argentine racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio . After a 38-year break in formula racing, Mercedes returned to Formula 1 in 1993, initially as an engine supplier alongside Sauber . In 1995 Mercedes switched to McLaren as a partner and won three drivers' titles as McLaren-Mercedes by 2009 .
Since 2010, the company has again had its own works team in the top motorsport class. In the 2014 season , the team won its first constructors' world championship with Lewis Hamilton as driver world champion. The season marked the beginning of an era. From 2014 to 2019 , the team was able to win both the driver's title and the constructor's title for six seasons in a row - unique in the history of Formula 1. Nico Rosberg won the driver's title in 2016 , with Hamilton securing the rest. Since the introduction of the V6 turbo engines in 2014, Mercedes was able to win a total of 89 of the 121 (around 74%) held Grand Prix events by the end of 2019.
In those years the team set the record for most wins (19, 2016), most pole positions (20, 2016), most podium finishes (33, 2016), most double victories (12, 2015) and most points (765, 2016) in one season.
The team has been competing with the driver duo Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas since the 2017 season .
history
The factory team from 1954–1955
1954 season
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(both born in 1955)
The Formula 1 involvement in the 1950s began in December 1953 with the first test drives on the factory premises in Stuttgart; in the spring of 1954 others followed in Hockenheim and Monza . The successful races of the simple 300SL ( W 194 ) sports car presented in 1952 provided motivation and confidence for a works involvement in Formula 1. Since the vehicle was not ready in time for the start of the season in Argentina , Mercedes did not enter the world championship until the fourth race of the season. The Argentine Fangio , signed by Mercedes as a star driver for 1954, therefore started three races in a Maserati before the French Grand Prix in order to preserve his chances for the drivers' world championship. Such team changes during the season were more common then than now.
The Mercedes-Benz W 196 offered some technical innovations, especially regarding the drive and aerodynamics. The engine was a 2500 cc in-line eight-cylinder with a new type of gasoline direct injection and desmodromic valve control. Thus, the development team around project manager Fritz Nallinger and test manager Rudolf Uhlenhaut decided against the likewise permitted engine concept of a charged engine with a maximum size of 750 cm³. The W 196 was developed for fast routes with a streamlined body made of a lightweight magnesium alloy that was unique in Formula 1 history and was designed to reduce aerodynamic drag and increase top speed. Since the start of the season was planned for the fourth race on the high-speed circuit in Reims , the development of the streamlined Monza had priority over a classic monoposto with free-standing wheels.
On July 4, 1954 , Mercedes-Benz entered the French Grand Prix for the first time with the W 196 in Formula 1, as planned, and achieved a double victory with drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling . This was the first Grand Prix victory of a Silver Arrow since the 1930s and the first success of a German constructor in Formula 1. The young German up-and-coming driver Hans Herrmann initially fought his way up from seventh place before retiring with engine failure.
After the dominant comeback of the Silver Arrows, the motorsport scene was expecting another victory at the subsequent British Grand Prix in Silverstone . But the full fairing turned out to be too confusing and difficult on winding roads, even on those with large curve radii like Silverstone. Fangio dented his body at the track boundaries and was only fourth, Kling seventh.
For example, at the home Grand Prix on the also winding Nürburgring , three W 196s with free-standing wheels were used in the race for the first time. Only Herrmann started with a streamlined body, as only three bodies were finished in the near future. The only 3 kg heavier full fairing did not turn out to be a major disadvantage and Hans Herrmann started from fourth place. He dropped out early in the race. Old star Hermann Lang , who drove for Mercedes-Benz races before the war, ended his career with a guest start in the fourth W 196. Fangio won at the Nürburgring and subsequently also the Swiss Grand Prix with the free-standing wheels, while at the Grand Prix from Italy in the high-speed oval of Monza was last used in the 1954 season of the W 196 Monza . At the season finale in Spain , Fangio, who is already world champion, finished third on the podium. Leaves and paper collected in the radiator grille caused cooling problems and prevented a better result. This led to a relocation of the air intake in 1955, which resulted in the characteristic lateral shape on the bonnet from 1955.
The five best results were included in the drivers' standings, making Fangio the first champion on Mercedes-Benz with 42 points and world champion for the second time. Together with Kling and Herrmann's two podium places, Mercedes achieved a total of seven podiums as well as four wins, pole positions and fastest race laps in this first season. Including all Grand Prix races, the team collected a total of 60.14 points in six races. The unusual number of points came about by dividing the point for the fastest race lap among several drivers at the British GP. Mercedes did not win the constructors' cup because it was only awarded from the 1958 season.
1955 season
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The Mercedes team also used the W 196, which had been developed for both seasons from the outset, in 1955 . In the second year, the team developed a total of three versions of the racing car: In addition to the standard version from 1954 with a 2349 mm wheelbase, there was a medium version (2209 mm), which was tested at the 1954 season finale, and a short version (2148 mm). The shortest version was intended exclusively for use in Monaco, but was later also used occasionally in Aintree, Zandvoort and Monza. In this shortest version, the brake drums on the front wheels, which were otherwise inside, moved outwards. In 1955, the variant with full fairing was only used in Monza, the last high-speed line left on the calendar.
World champion Juan Manuel Fangio stayed with the team. Before the season started, the team of drivers was supplemented by the young British driver Stirling Moss . As in the previous season, Alfred Neubauer was in charge of racing at Mercedes-Benz, roughly comparable to today's motorsport director.
At the start of the season, Fangio won his home race in Buenos Aires in mid-January . In the race, which went down in history as a “heat battle”, he was the only top driver to contest the entire distance alone. Herrmann, Kling and Moss took turns on a second chassis and finished fourth, 2 laps behind.
Back in Europe, the team in Monaco had a black weekend with Hans Herrmann's training accident and a technical failure of all three W 196 cars that had started. The Frenchman André Simon replaced the injured Herrmann in the race. At the Belgian Grand Prix and the Dutch Grand Prix , Fangio achieved the early win of his third world championship with two wins. At the British Grand Prix , the team was able to achieve a quadruple victory in Formula 1 for the first time. Moss won his first race for Mercedes just ahead of Fangio, Kling and Piero Taruffi . Taruffi was able to celebrate a second place behind race winner Fangio in Monza after Moss and Kling were canceled.
Mercedes-Benz dominated the Grand Prix and sports car races until the end of the 1955 season, when, as planned at the beginning, the group withdrew with all its teams from motorsport to concentrate on the production of series cars. The devastating accident at Le Mans in 1955 , where the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR of Pierre Levegh no fault with the Austin-Healey of Lance Macklin collided and killed more than 80 spectators, accelerated only the withdrawal of the sports car racing by Mercedes. The abandonment of Grand Prix sport was decided beforehand.
As a result of the accident, the last four of the ten originally planned races of the 1955 Formula 1 World Cup were canceled. In the other six races, the team not only scored five wins by Fangio and Moss, but also four pole positions and five fastest laps, as well as a total of 79 points. Juan Manuel Fangio became world champion for the third time with 40 points, Stirling Moss was vice world champion with 23 points.
History of today's factory team
First plans for a comeback as a works team
On January 15, 1988, Mercedes-Benz announced its return to international motorsport after 33 years. Werner Niefer , then Head of Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars, emphasized the tradition of motorsport at Mercedes and the possible promotion of the technology and brand image through competition on the track. In cooperation with the experienced Swiss racing team Sauber , Group C racing cars were used in the sports car world championship after Mercedes had unofficially participated in engine development as early as 1985 and made its wind tunnel available to the team.
Winning the World Championship for sports cars in 1989 and 1990 and winning the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1989 were the highlights of this partnership. At the same time, Mercedes was preparing a possible Formula 1 entry for the 1992 season under the then race director Jochen Neerpasch , who was responsible for the Sauber-Mercedes operations . The engineers Harvey Postlethwaite and Mike Gascoyne were hired for this and the development of a prototype for the 1992 season has already started with them. The own junior drivers were intended as operational pilots and should establish a new era for the Silver Arrows in Formula 1.
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From 1990, a successful junior program was established with the German-speaking young drivers Michael Schumacher , Karl Wendlinger , Fritz Kreutzpointner and Heinz-Harald Frentzen . The drivers should gain experience in sports car operations alongside experienced drivers like Jochen Mass and recommend themselves for higher tasks. When Michael Schumacher financed his Formula 1 debut at Jordan or Benetton in the summer of 1991 so that he could gain experience in the top motorsport class, Mercedes had a contract guarantee that if they entered Formula 1 themselves, they would fall back on Schumacher can.
On November 26, 1991, however, after the end of the sports car world championship, Mercedes announced that it was leaving Group C and at the same time ruled out entering Formula 1 for the 1992 season. The board of directors around Edzard Reuter justified the decision with the fact that a financially expensive involvement in Formula 1 is not compatible with cost-cutting measures that have become necessary in the Daimler Group. Disappointed about the short-term cancellation, Neerpasch ended his involvement with Mercedes and resigned as Mercedes racing director in 1992.
Entry as an engine supplier with Sauber
After all, the name Mercedes-Benz has been back in Formula 1 since 1993. Contrary to previous plans, however, not as a works team with their own cars, but as an engine supplier. The commitment that continues to this day goes back to the British engine manufacturer Ilmor , through whom Mercedes initially delivered a 3.5-liter V10 to the Sauber racing team in 1993 under the label "Concept by Mercedes-Benz" . In 1993, the Swiss made the leap into Formula 1 with the C12 . During development, the racing car concept from Postlethwaite, which was previously intended for a Mercedes entry, was used in part.
Mercedes provided its engine development expertise, but Ilmor officially remained the manufacturer in 1993. Mercedes-Benz took over the Ilmor plant in Brixworth, England, completely in several tranches between 1994 and 2005, so that the 1994 Sauber C13 was the first Formula 1 car to be powered by a Mercedes engine since the W 196. The engine plant subsequently developed into one of the most successful engine manufacturers in Formula 1 history with over 170 races won and has been trading as Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains since 2012 .
After two mixed years in 1993 and 1994 , in which Sauber only achieved a few points, Mercedes began a partnership with McLaren in 1995 with a newly developed 3.0-liter V10 . The British-German co-production has not yet won any races in the first two seasons. In 1997 , three race wins followed, before Mika Häkkinen 's breakthrough came in 1998 and 1999 with two World Championship titles . By the time they split up in 2014 after 19 years and 351 Grand Prix races, a total of 78 race wins and three drivers' titles had been achieved. Although the public often referred to the Silver Arrows in connection with the McLaren-Mercedes , Daimler never held a majority in the team, so that all the racing results were included in the statistics of the British racing team.
Since 2009, after the end of the exclusive contract with McLaren, Mercedes has also been supplying several customer teams with engines in one season. These were the 2.4-liter V8 McLaren, Force India and Brawn GP used until 2013 . McLaren, Force India, Lotus , Williams , Manor and Racing Point have been customers of the 1.6-liter V6 Turbo since 2014 .
Development of today's racing team
Separate from this is the Formula 1 commitment with its own Mercedes works team. Today's Mercedes AMG F1 Team legally goes back to the British racing team Tyrrell Racing Organization , founded in 1960 , which competed in Formula 1 from 1968 and won the Formula 1 drivers' championship with Jackie Stewart in 1969 , 1971 and 1973 . After a chassis from Matra was still used in 1969 , Tyrrell constructed his own cars from 1970 onwards. The Tyrrell Racing Organization was an integral part of Formula 1 for almost three decades, albeit mainly in the midfield after Stewart ended his career in late 1973.
In November 1997, the financially troubled team was bought by British American Tobacco in order to start under the name of British American Racing (BAR) from 1999 after a transition season . British American Tobacco took over neither the factory in Ockham nor large parts of the staff or equipment, but was rather interested in the legal shell and the associated starting position in Formula 1. The British racing car designer Reynard with his plant in Brackley acted as technical partner and chassis supplier for BAR . After Reynard's bankruptcy in 2001, these plants were taken over by BAR and subsequently expanded into today's Operations Center. The physical roots of today's racing team therefore lie with Reynard.
British American Racing started in 1999 with Supertec - and from 2000 with Honda engines. After an unsuccessful beginning year in which the team could not score any world championship points, BAR gradually increased, but did not achieve a victory in seven years. The 2004 season was the most successful , with BAR taking four second and seven third places. At the end of the season, the team was runner-up behind the dominant Ferrari and Jenson Button took third place in the drivers' championship.
After BAR had dropped to sixth place in the constructors' championship the following year , Honda took over the team and continued to run it from 2006 to 2008 under the name Honda Racing F1 . In 2006 Button scored another victory for Honda in Hungary , in 2007 the team slipped to eighth place in the constructors' championship without success. In 2008, Honda entrusted the team to British engineer Ross Brawn , who had previously worked with Michael Schumacher as Technical Director at Benetton and Ferrari . Nevertheless, Honda continued to fall back in the constructors' championship this season.
At the end of the 2008 season, against the background of the economic crisis, Honda announced its immediate withdrawal from Formula 1. Since the liquidation of the 700-strong team would have meant high costs and damage to Honda’s image , Ross Brawn was able to buy the team through a management buy- out assume for a symbolic amount and reported it in 2009 under the name Brawn GP with Mercedes engines. Brawn GP surprisingly won the constructors 'championship as well as the drivers' title with Jenson Button thanks to the development of the innovative double diffuser on the BGP 001 . For reasons of cost and weight, the team did without the KERS system for the recovery of braking energy, which was permitted for the first time in 2009 . Many works teams relied on the complicated system and therefore lost touch with the aerodynamically better positioned Brawn GP and Red Bull .
The factory team since 2010
Building a top team
2010 season
On November 16, 2009, Daimler AG announced that it would take over 45.1% of the team shares from Brawn GP . Another 30% was taken over by the major Daimler shareholder Aabar Investments , 24.9% remained with Ross Brawn and four other owners. The racing team changed its name to Mercedes Grand Prix and has been competing as a Mercedes works team under the German flag ever since. The official seat of the team is the Daimler headquarters in Stuttgart , but the team operates like its predecessor Brawn GP from Brackley, England . Ross Brawn remained team boss and Norbert Haug sat at the command post as Motorsport Director of Mercedes-Benz (until the end of 2012). It is the first time since 1955 that the Mercedes-Benz brand is not only represented as an engine supplier in Formula 1.
In the course of these changes, Mercedes-Benz ended its partnership with the British McLaren Group , in which Daimler AG then held 40% of the shares. These were sold back until 2011. The supply of engines continued up to and including the 2014 season, and the factory-supported team became a pure customer team. On December 21, 2009, the petroleum company Petronas was announced as the team's new main sponsor and partner for fuels and lubricants. Thus, the team officially competed under the name Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team in 2010 and 2011 .
First, the German Nico Rosberg , who had previously driven for Williams, was hired for a year . In December 2009, the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher , who returned to Formula 1 after a three-year break, was announced as the second driver. His commitment lasted until the end of the 2012 season. When he returned to Mercedes, he came full circle after almost 20 years after the Stuttgart team made it possible for him to enter Formula 1 as a junior driver in 1991. Last year's drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello left the team for McLaren and Williams respectively .
The color design of the Mercedes MGP W01 was presented on January 25, 2010 in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart on a Brawn BGP 001 . The black and cyan-colored elements of the sponsors are on the matt silver base paint. The race car for the season was presented a week later on the first day of testing in Valencia. The car had no noteworthy innovations and technically represented an evolution of the BGP 001 without the now forbidden double diffuser. Due to the ban on refueling stops for the 2010 season, the tanks had to be enlarged and the minimum weight of the racing cars adjusted to 625 kg. In addition, according to the regulations, the wheel caps were optically omitted and the front tires became narrower. Like the Brawn, the W01 was powered by a Mercedes 2.4-liter V8 without KERS.
After the team had won both world championships in the previous year, contrary to great expectations, in 2010 it fell back into the midfield. Although the W01 allowed consistent placements in the points, Rosberg's third places in Malaysia , China and England were the best positions of the season. This was also due to the fact that, after the decision to exit in 2008, Honda no longer invested anything in the racing team and the chronically underfunded Brawn team put all resources into managing the current season during the 2009 world championship year. Thus, the timely development of the 2010 car was prevented during the 2009 season and the infrastructure of the factory was neglected for a long time. These problems continued until the 2011 season . Ross Brawn later described the MGP W01 as a result of insufficient development as much too conservative in terms of weight, center of gravity and suspension. The aerodynamics, an extension of the wheelbase and the interaction of exhaust gases and diffuser were further construction sites on the racing car.
Schumacher achieved fourth places as the best results in Spain , Turkey and South Korea and was ninth in the drivers' standings with 72 points. Nico Rosberg collected 142 points and finished the year seventh in the drivers' championship. The team finished fourth in the constructors' championship (214 points) behind engine science and former partner McLaren, who became vice world champions.
In mid-2010, the previous test driver Nick Heidfeld left the team for the tire supplier Pirelli.
2011 season
In February 2011 it was announced that Daimler and Aabar will take over the remaining 24.9% of the shares from the original owners before the start of the season. This means that the team is 100% owned by Mercedes-Benz and its partners, which, among other things, should increase the flexibility for upcoming investments in the factory's infrastructure.
In the second year of its existence, the Mercedes works team was unable to achieve the hoped-for increase in performance compared to the previous season, which it finished fourth among the designers. The 2011 season was generally even less successful than the first year because it neither Nico Rosberg nor Michael Schumacher managed to occupy a place on the podium. The Mercedes MGP W02 also failed to achieve a pole position or fastest race lap.
The MGP W02 was presented to the public on February 1, 2011, just before the official test drives in Valencia . The first photos were shown online two days earlier. Visually, the matt paintwork from the previous year has been swapped for a more shiny, lighter silver. Pirelli replaced Bridgestone as the Formula 1 tire supplier for the 2011 season and the DRS was introduced. Due to these and other rule changes as well as the poor performance of its predecessor, the W02 was a comprehensive redesign. The nose was raised compared to the W01 in order to direct as much air as possible under the car and thus flow to the diffuser at the rear. The wheelbase has been shortened and the side pods have been made smaller to reduce air resistance. The W02 was the first factory Mercedes with KERS in Formula 1, as this system was not allowed in 2010. Like the previous year's model, it was powered by a 2.4-liter V8 from the engine plant in Brixworth.
The lack of success of the car was less due to the performance of the drive, but rather to the ultimately insufficiently innovative and effective aerodynamic concept of the chassis. In particular, the blown diffuser on the Red Bull RB7, which was perfected during the season, was never really brought to work by the technicians on the W02. Contrary to most of its competitors, Mercedes shortened the wheelbase, but this did not have the expected effects on the diffuser. The conversion of the rear suspension to tension struts also made the setup work more difficult.
The team finished fourth again in the constructors' championship with 165 points. Nico Rosberg finished seventh (89 championship points) and Michael Schumacher eighth overall (76 championship points) in the drivers' championship. With his drive to fourth place in the chaotic rain race in Canada, Schumacher set one of the few highlights and achieved the best result of the season. Nico Rosberg's best finishings were two fifth places at the Chinese and Turkey Grand Prix .
The mixed results of the first two seasons as a works team were also due to the fact that Mercedes operated on a smaller budget compared to the top teams Ferrari and Red Bull. The entry as a works team in autumn 2009 took place under the premise of the introduction of a budget limit in Formula 1. At the time of the takeover, the Brawn GP racing team already had a smaller workforce that would have met the requirements for a budget cap. However, such a limit was never introduced and Mercedes was faced with the decision to determine the direction of its Formula 1 involvement. In the course of the 2011 season, it was decided to gradually increase the team budget and increase the number of staff in the technical department in view of the opportunities offered by the new regulations from 2014. As part of this decision, the technical department headed by Bob Bell was reinforced with the former technical directors of Ferrari ( Aldo Costa ) and Red Bull ( Geoff Willis ). In addition, the wind tunnel at the Brackley plant was expanded to accommodate a 60% model.
2012 season
For the 2012 season , the racing team changed the official team name to Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team . Before the season, the racing team took part in the three Formula 1 test weeks. The 2012 vehicle, the Mercedes F1 W03 , was only used from the second week of testing.
The vehicle was designed more radically than its two predecessors and featured a number of technical innovations, most notably the double DRS system. This enabled an improved top speed when the DRS button was pressed by reducing the air resistance. Though it was deemed legal by the rulers ahead of the season, Red Bull Racing and the Lotus F1 Team considered a protest. Before the race in China, Lotus actually lodged a protest, which was rejected by the FIA's technical delegates . With the new car, the aerodynamic efficiency should be increased compared to its predecessor. The wheelbase has been lengthened again compared to the W02 in order to enlarge the usable diffuser area. The side pods were made even slimmer and pulled inside earlier. In the rear, heat deflectors were attached to the wheel carriers to keep the hot exhaust gases away from the wheels.
At first, the racing team started the season just as unsuccessfully as in the previous two years, as they could only get one point in two races. At the third round of the season, the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit , the big breakthrough was achieved on April 15, 2012 with the first victory of the team founded in 2009. Nico Rosberg won the race after having achieved pole position the day before . It was the first Grand Prix victory of a Mercedes-Benz works team in Formula 1 since the Italian Grand Prix in 1955 , 57 years ago. The season was successful for Rosberg even after the maiden victory, so that after another visit to the podium he was second in Monaco after the first third of the season and was fifth in the World Cup.
Michael Schumacher started the season more difficult and suffered a number of technical failures. Although he was the fastest in qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix, he had to start the race from 6th place due to a penalty transfer. In addition, he managed to finish third at the European Grand Prix in Valencia for the first time since his comeback in 2010 to take a podium.
In the course of the European season, the team was unable to confirm the initially good results and fell further behind the top teams, especially in qualifying. From the ninth race of the season in England to the twelfth race in Belgium, the team only scored 21 points and Rosberg fell back in the world championship. At the Singapore Grand Prix , Rosberg achieved fifth place, the best result since the Monaco GP. Podiums were out of reach, however. Including the subsequent Japanese Grand Prix , the team was unable to score any points in five races in a row and at times ran the risk of losing fifth place in the constructors' championship to Sauber. Michael Schumacher was only able to end this series in seventh place in the last race in Brazil .
Mercedes finished the season with 142 points in fifth place overall. Nico Rosberg finished ninth (93 points) and Michael Schumacher 13th (49) in the drivers' standings. Despite the first win since the comeback, 2012 was the team's weakest season to date, after the mixed results in the second half of the season and a total of ten failures.
On September 28, 2012, the team announced that the end of the season contract with Michael Schumacher was not renewed and Lewis Hamilton has been hired as a driver from 2013 instead . In addition, on the same day, Niki Lauda was appointed chairman of the team's supervisory board . In November 2012, Daimler bought back the team share from Aabar, which had meanwhile increased to 40%, making the team 100% Daimler.
On December 13, 2012 it was announced that the contract with the motorsport boss Norbert Haug would be terminated by mutual agreement at the end of the year. Haug was responsible for racing at Mercedes-Benz for 22 years as motorsport director.
2013 season
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At the beginning of 2013, the Austrian Toto Wolff became the new motorsport director of Mercedes-Benz and succeeded Norbert Haug, who left in December. In the course of his entry, Wolff acquired 30% and Niki Lauda 10% of the shares in the racing team. Wolff has personal racing experience in the lower classes and previously held a managerial position at Williams , where he was a shareholder until March 2016.
Mercedes competed in the 2013 Formula 1 World Championship with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton , who was signed by McLaren in September 2012 . Hamilton was the tenth Mercedes Grand Prix driver and the second Briton after Stirling Moss. Hamilton was already world champion in a McLaren-Mercedes in 2008.
The new Mercedes F1 W04 made its debut on the Circuito de Jerez as part of the first winter test drives of the 2013 Formula 1 season. Although the car was an evolution of the previous year's model, it was aerodynamically improved and was fast on a timed lap from the start of the season . The revised air duct over the front wing and around the side pods enabled an improved lateral sealing of the diffuser between the rear tires. Like its predecessor, the car was powered by a 2.4-liter V8 with KERS.
At the season opener in Australia , Hamilton started the race from third and Rosberg from sixth. Rosberg dropped out due to technical reasons, Hamilton finished fifth. At the second race in Malaysia , Hamilton achieved his first podium for Mercedes with a third place. Together with Rosberg's fourth place, it was the best team result for Mercedes since returning to Formula 1. In the final phase , Mercedes instructed Rosberg with a stable order not to attack Hamilton and to secure the result.
At the following race weekend in China, Lewis Hamilton managed to secure his first pole position for Mercedes, and at the same time it was the second for the team since 2010. He was only third in the race, Rosberg retired again for technical reasons. It turned out that the F1 W04 quickly brought the tires into the correct temperature window in qualifying, but suffered from excessive tire wear in the races.
The team started a series in China, because Mercedes also achieved pole position at the following three Grands Prix in Bahrain , Barcelona and Monaco thanks to Nico Rosberg. Nevertheless, due to the blatantly high tire wear in both Bahrain and Barcelona, no placements on the podium were possible. So the Mercedes in Spain, started from row one, passed through to ranks 6 and 12 without any discernible tactical or technical errors.
It was not until the Monaco Grand Prix that the team was able to convert first place on the grid into a victory for Rosberg. For him it was the second Grand Prix victory of his career after China in 2012 and he achieved it exactly 30 years after his father Keke Rosberg won in Monaco .
From the fifth round of the season in Barcelona, the team drove with a modified color design on the two F1 W04s, which should arouse more associations with the Silver Arrows of the past.
On the Saturday of the Monaco weekend it became publicly known that Mercedes, together with the tire supplier Pirelli, had completed a 1000-kilometer tire test in Barcelona after the previous race weekend. As a result, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari lodged a protest with the commissioners because test drives with the current racing car are prohibited during the season. Pirelli and Mercedes took the view that the tests were legal; In addition, the test results are intended exclusively for Pirelli and thus do not give Mercedes any competitive advantage. The investigation was forwarded to the FIA by the Monaco Grand Prix racing stewards . On June 20, 2013, there was a trial before the International Tribunal in Paris, in which Mercedes and Pirelli were accused by the FIA of having carried out illegal test drives. One day later, Pirelli and Mercedes were officially warned and the Mercedes team was excluded from the Young Driver tests that took place in Silverstone in July . Further sanctions, such as a fine or deduction of points, were refrained from because, although there was a violation of the test rule of the sporting regulations, Mercedes and Pirelli could prove that they acted in the good sense, as the test was intended to improve the safety of the tire generation. Any competitive advantage of the team should be offset by the exclusion from the test drives in July. On the same day, Mercedes announced that it would not appeal the judgment.
After Lewis Hamilton clinched third place at the Canadian Grand Prix , the team achieved the second win of the season by Nico Rosberg at Silverstone after Hamilton, who started from pole, suffered a puncture and finished fourth. Hamilton also took pole position at the Nürburgring , but the drivers only finished the race in fifth and ninth.
At the following race in Hungary , Lewis Hamilton achieved his first Grand Prix success with his new team with a start-to-finish victory. While in the lead, he managed his tires successfully despite the high track temperatures. After the summer break, Lewis Hamilton in Belgium was the last time a Mercedes started from pole position of the season. In the race he was third ahead of Rosberg. In the subsequent overseas races, the team could not celebrate any more podium places. Similar to 2012, the performance curve flattened towards the end of the season, albeit at a higher level.
With fifth and ninth places, Mercedes secured twelve points at the season finale in Sao Paulo and thus the runner-up in the constructors' championship. In the end, there were six points ahead of Ferrari in the championship table.
In 2013, Mercedes managed to establish itself as a top team for the first time since returning to the game and constantly fight for podium places. Overall, with 360 points, the team won almost three times as many as in the previous season (142 points; fifth overall). A total of three wins of the season, eight pole positions and one fastest race lap were achieved. Lewis Hamilton finished fourth in the Drivers' World Championship with 189 points and a win of the season. Nico Rosberg achieved 171 points and two wins this season, which was enough for sixth overall.
At the end of the year, the previous team boss Ross Brawn left the works team. Toto Wolff , who was appointed Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Director at the beginning of 2013, and the technician Paddy Lowe , who was hired from McLaren in June, took over the leadership of the team in a double leadership, which eliminated the classic position of team boss. Wolff will act as managing director in the business sector, while Lowe will be managing director in the technology sector.
Years of dominance
2014 season
At the beginning of the 2014 season there were some personnel changes. Mercedes took over several engineers from the competing Red Bull team. These included Mark Ellis and Giles Wood. On the other hand, the racing team announced that the technical director Bob Bell would stop his work at the end of the season. A direct replacement was initially not planned, Paddy Lowe took over the management of the technology department. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg remained in the team as regular drivers, Pascal Wehrlein was substitute driver.
For the 2014 season, turbo engines were introduced in Formula 1 for the first time since 1988. The first season's emergency vehicle with the new engines was the Mercedes F1 W05 , which was registered as the F1 W05 Hybrid from the fifth race of the season . The W05 was the first Formula 1 car developed completely under Mercedes direction since the W 196, as its predecessors were based on the regulations that had already been established in 2009. Mercedes-Benz saw the engine rules announced in 2011 as an opportunity to attack the world championship. Financial and human resources have been pouring into the development of the engine and its integration into the racing car since 2011. The team budget for this has been gradually brought closer to that of the top teams Ferrari and Red Bull since 2012. The drive was the Mercedes-Benz PU106A Hybrid , a 1.6 liter V6 turbo engine with an Energy Recovery System (ERS) to recover both thermal and kinetic energy. The maximum fuel flow and the usable amount of fuel per race were limited by regulations. The minimum weight of the vehicles has been increased to 690 kg due to the additional electrical components.
The car was presented shortly before the first official test drives at the Circuito de Jerez in Spain. Special design features of the car were a lower nose than the previous model and a narrower front wing. The use of a beam wing under the rear wing was prohibited. The team took part in the three official test weeks in Jerez and Bahrain to prepare for the season. Together with the customer teams McLaren, Force India and Williams, Mercedes covered the most kilometers on the twelve test days. Before the start of the season, the Mercedes turbo engine made the best-developed impression in terms of reliability and performance.
In the first four races of the season, Mercedes was by far the most powerful team with the F1 W05. All race wins, pole positions and fastest race laps as well as all lead laps of the races went to drivers of the Mercedes works team. Rosberg won the Australian Grand Prix , while Hamilton won the following three races in Malaysia , Bahrain and China . The superior performance of the Silver Arrows was due to the combination of the most efficient engine and an aerodynamically sophisticated chassis. The joint development of cars and powertrains, which began early on, turned out to be a competitive advantage.
The dominance continued at the first European races of the season. Hamilton won in Spain and Rosberg, as in the previous year, in Monaco . In Monaco, Mercedes was also able to break the record set by Ferrari in 1952 and 2002 with the fifth consecutive double victory .
In Canada , the team suffered technical defects for the first time in the season. Hamilton retired after a defect in the rear brake after the failure of the ERS-K ; Rosberg, whose drive was also affected by the failure of the ERS-K, came in second. The three subsequent races were won by Rosberg and Hamilton. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, a technical defect in qualifying prevented a technical defect in qualifying for Hamilton and an unfortunate safety car phase for Rosberg prevented a better team result.
A disregarded stable order from Hamilton caused unrest in the team, which escalated further at the Belgian Grand Prix . Rosberg started ahead of Hamilton, but after Hamilton took the lead at the start, both collided on lap two while Rosberg tried to overtake. Hamilton fell far behind with a puncture and finally parked, Rosberg had to swap wings and finished second. In the following week, Rosberg claimed to be responsible for the incident. At the end of the European races in Italy , the team celebrated another double victory.
In Singapore , Hamilton took over the championship lead with his victory, as Rosberg had started from pole and failed due to a broken cable in the steering column. Hamilton also won the races in the rainy Suzuka and in Sochi, ahead of Rosberg, who was already in the lead after the start, but got a brake plate when braking into the first corner. With the ninth double victory of the year, the team won its first constructors' world championship with 565 points ahead of time.
Lewis Hamilton won the USA GP in Austin , while Nico Rosberg won the Brazilian GP in Sao Paulo . Both drivers benefited from their teammates' driving errors in their victories. After the race in the USA it was mathematically clear that the World Championship would be decided between the Mercedes drivers.
At the season finale on Yas Island , Hamilton won his second world championship with an undisputed victory. Rosberg, who started from pole, already lost the start and after losing the ERS had to fight his way through the race without additional power, which he nevertheless finished at his own request. Lewis Hamilton was second world champion in a Mercedes-Benz after Juan Manuel Fangio.
Hamilton beat Rosberg in the world championship with 384: 317 points and 11: 5 race wins. However, the outcome of the World Cup was closer than the result, distorted by the double points at the season finale, suggests. The team collected a total of 701 points, which meant a new season record. It was the first German design engineer title in Formula 1 history, as it has only been awarded since 1958. Mercedes drove a total of eleven double victories in the 2014 season, setting a new record.
2015 season
The 2015 Formula 1 World Championship vehicle , the Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid , was presented on the morning of February 1, 2015 as part of the first official test drives in Jerez. Before that, however, the first photos of the rollout in Silverstone had already been made public on January 29th. The new car represented an evolution of the predecessor W05, externally mainly recognizable by a narrow nose. According to the responsible technicians, the most important changes have been made to the packaging of the various components under the cladding and to optimize weight. The 2016 Power Unit known as the PU106B Hybrid represents a further development of the 1.6-liter V6 turbo from the previous season.
The team also contested the 2015 season with the two regular drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg , as well as Pascal Wehrlein as test driver.
Mercedes started the season with a dominant one-two in Melbourne , with Hamilton winning. At the start of the season, the W06 initially turned out to be the fastest vehicle. In the second race of the season in Malaysia , however, the team surprisingly lost victory against Sebastian Vettel in a Ferrari. As in 2012 and 2013, the Mercedes had problems with the Pirellis' tire management.
In retrospect, this race turned out to be an exception. Up to the race at Silverstone, both drivers were on the podium for nine races in a row. Hamilton and Rosberg won eight of the nine races. Hamilton was mostly faster than Rosberg in the first half of the season, he achieved nine pole positions and five race wins. The Monaco GP brought with it a controversy, as Rosberg inherited the victory in the final phase through a strategically unnecessary tire change from Hamilton, who controlled the race with ease.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix , both drivers fell behind at the start, as they did at Silverstone. With ranks six and eight, the team achieved the worst result since the start of the 2014 season. A striking number of collisions and slips by both drivers ended a series of podium finishes that had meanwhile lasted 28 races. Despite this, Mercedes was clearly ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' championship during the summer break with 383 points.
After the summer break, another double victory was achieved in Belgium . In Monza scored Hamilton one-to-flag victory Start while Rosberg failed on the penultimate lap due to engine failure.
In Singapore , the drivers were unable to fight for race victory for the first time of the season. Rosberg finished fourth, Hamilton retired. The team explained the surprisingly poor performance (in qualification 1.4 seconds behind) by an unfavorable combination of track characteristics, tire selection and setup work. Due to the defeat in qualifying, Mercedes missed the Williams record with 24 pole positions in a row.
Another double victory was achieved in Suzuka , led by Hamilton, although Rosberg took first place on the grid for the first time since Spain. In Russia , Rosberg retired after a few laps in the lead, so that Hamilton won and was about to win the title. Mercedes was able to secure the renewed win of the constructor title early.
In Austin , Rosberg started again from pole position. After changing the lead several times, Hamilton won the race due to a driving error by his teammate a few laps before the finish. With that, he was 80 points ahead of three races before the end of the season as a three-time champion. In the last three races of the season, Rosberg expanded his series of poles and won each time before Hamilton.
Hamilton was driver world champion with 381 points ahead of Nico Rosberg with 322. The team collected a total of 703 points, the previous season was just beaten. Mercedes also achieved a total of twelve double victories and improved its own record. Lewis Hamilton not only won the season on points, he also took 10: 6 wins and 11: 7 pole positions.
2016 season
The vehicle for the Formula 1 World Championship 2016 , the Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid , was officially presented on the morning of February 22, 2016 as part of the first test drives in Barcelona. Due to the stable regulations, the car represented an evolution of the predecessor model W06, which could not be improved after the record season of 2015. Therefore, the main focus during development was on the reliability and increased efficiency of the power unit. The car was powered by the Mercedes-Benz PU106C Hybrid , the 2016 version of the Mercedes V6 turbo engine used since 2014.
The reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg stayed on board as regular drivers . The substitute and simulator driver Pascal Wehrlein remained an employee of the Mercedes team at Manor Racing in 2016 despite his cockpit .
The F1 W07 Hybrid also turned out to be the fastest car in the field at the start of the 2016 season. The team started with a double victory at the Australian Grand Prix . Rosberg won the first four races of the season in a row, also because Hamilton experienced problematic races with technical defects. At the European opener, the Spanish Grand Prix , Hamilton started from pole and Rosberg right behind. After a tough duel in the first two corners, Rosberg initially took the lead before the teammates collided in Turn 3 and the race was over for both of them. Hamilton wanted to pass the inside when braking, but Rosberg didn't give him any space, so he lost control of the car on the grass and crashed sideways into Rosberg.
The following races in Monaco and Canada were won by Hamilton, while Rosberg won the premiere of the European GP in Baku . At the ninth round of the season in Austria , Hamilton started from pole, Rosberg took the lead in the middle of the race and Hamilton caught up again on the last lap due to an alternative tire strategy. Rosberg defended himself resolutely, so that the two collided again on the last lap. Hamilton was able to continue and won, Rosberg only finished fourth with a badly damaged car, but was still leading in the World Cup with 11 points. The repeated accident scenes led to harsh criticism from the team management of their own drivers.
The last three races before the summer break were won by Hamilton, taking the World Championship lead in Hungary and increasing this to 19 points at the German GP . After twelve races, the team led the constructors' championship by 159 points over Red Bull Racing . In addition, the Hamilton / Rosberg duo set a new record in Hungary with 25 double victories; Schumacher / Barrichello once drove in 24 for Ferrari .
Rosberg came back stronger from the summer break and won three races in a row in Belgium , Italy and Singapore , overtaking Hamilton in the World Cup. Mercedes could not win the Malaysia GP . In the Red Bull one-two, Rosberg fell to the end of the field after a collision at the start, but still made up points on Hamilton in third place at the finish line, who retired while in the lead in the last third of the race with an engine failure. After another victory in Suzuka , Rosberg had a 33 point lead with four races to go, which meant that Hamilton could no longer become world champion without help.
Hamilton won the final four races in Austin , Mexico City , Sao Paulo and Abu Dhabi . However, through tactical and defensive driving, Rosberg achieved second places each and thus secured his first world championship as the third German driver. After Fangio and Hamilton, he is the third champion in a Mercedes-Benz in Formula 1.
Rosberg was world driver champion with 385 points ahead of Hamilton with 380 points. The team collected 765 points, which also meant a new record, like the 19 race wins and 20 pole positions. Rosberg decided the season on points, but Hamilton took 10: 9 wins and 12: 8 pole positions.
On December 2, 2016 Nico Rosberg was on the FIA - Press conference on the occasion of his title win his resignation as a Formula 1 driver known.
Fight with Ferrari and Red Bull
2017 season
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On January 16, 2017, Mercedes publicly announced that the Finn Valtteri Bottas had been bought from his Williams contract to succeed the retired world champion Nico Rosberg at the side of Hamilton . He is the fourth Mercedes-Benz works driver in the modern era and the eleventh overall. Bottas was preferred to the young Mercedes driver Wehrlein, who finally drove for Sauber in 2017 .
On January 10, 2017, Mercedes made public that Paddy Lowe was leaving the team at his own request. Even before the start of the season, Mercedes announced James Allison, his successor, as the team's new Technical Director on February 16, 2017 . Allison took over overall management of the technical department on March 1.
Since the beginning of the 2017 season, the team has officially been competing under the name Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport .
The new emergency vehicle for the 2017 season , the Mercedes F1 W08 EQ Power + , was presented on February 23, 2017 in Silverstone as part of a film day. The team slightly changed the nomenclature for the new car, based on the series electric vehicles. It differed significantly from its predecessor due to the radical changes in the technical regulations. The vehicles now had a two-meter track width, significantly wider tires, deeper and wider rear wings and arrowheaded front wings. The area between the front wheels and the cockpit developed into a new playground for aerodynamicists through the use of extensive bargeboards . The long wheelbase, on the other hand, was a peculiarity of Mercedes. Since the car was turned on less than some competitors, the underbody had to be extended in order to generate high downforce values with the diffuser. The rear of the car was cut even more tightly behind the side pods than in the past, which in combination with the long wheelbase led to a distinctive, so-called cola bottle shape. Only the drive changed little, the 2017 version of the 1.6-liter V6 turbo engine used since 2014 was used . In addition to a general increase in efficiency, the main aim was to adapt the reliability of the power units to the new rules. Due to the significantly higher downforce of the new cars, the proportion of full throttle increased by up to ten percent on a single lap.
A Ferrari success at the season opener in Melbourne confirmed the impression of the pre-season tests that the new aerodynamic rules led to the end of the clear superiority of the Mercedes team from previous years. The competition had caught up in terms of both aerodynamics and engines. Ferrari proved to be competitive throughout the season, and Red Bull Racing also won two races in the fall.
In the first third of the season, the World Cup duel between Vettel and Hamilton indicated. In addition to other duels, one scene during the city race in Baku attracted attention. During a safety car phase, the second-placed Vettel drove into the rear of the leading Hamilton. Thinking Hamilton had deliberately slowed down, he sat down next to him and rammed Hamilton again. Both could continue, but not win the race; Vettel got a time penalty and Hamilton also had to pit due to a loose neck protection. After the Hungarian Grand Prix , Vettel led the drivers' standings by 14 points; both drivers had won four races. Hamilton only laid the foundation for his renewed world title after the summer break, when he won five of the next six races and Vettel wrote two zeros in Singapore and Japan due to a start-up crash and technical defect. After the summer break, it was mainly the more effective further development of the chassis and the better reliability that decided against Ferrari for the World Cup. Despite successfully defending its title, the W08 was referred to within the team as a moody diva after it was difficult to set up, especially in the first half of the season, showed sometimes inexplicable fluctuations in performance and reacted sensitively to changes in handling the tires.
Lewis Hamilton won his fourth world championship with 363 points and nine wins in the end. With his fastest lap in qualifying in Monza , he also replaced Michael Schumacher as the driver with the most pole positions.
Valtteri Bottas won three races ( Russia , Austria and Abu Dhabi ) and finished the season with 305 points in third place overall. This makes Bottas the fifth Grand Prix winner for a Mercedes-Benz. The team won the fourth constructors' championship in a row with a total of 668 points. A total of twelve race wins and 15 pole positions could be achieved.
2018 season
The emergency vehicle for the 2018 season was the tenth racing car designed by Mercedes-Benz to be used in the Formula 1 World Championship. The Mercedes-AMG F1 W09 EQ Power + was presented on February 22, 2018 in Silverstone . Compared to its predecessor, the car is largely a further development, as the technical regulations remained stable compared to last winter. The most important rule changes concerned the newly prescribed Halo system , which led to an increase in the minimum weight to 733 kg, and the ban on the conspicuous fin on the engine cover. Mercedes continued to rely on a long wheelbase and a low inclination of the car towards the rear. On the majority of the routes, the long design turned out to be an aerodynamic advantage in 2017. In addition, the team had to develop in parallel on W08 and W09 at the end of 2017 due to the world championship fight, so that an extensive concept change would not have been effectively implemented. In the W09, for example, the focus was on aerodynamic fine-tuning and changes to the suspension kinematics, primarily with the aim of making tire management easier and improving driving behavior.
The reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas stayed on board as drivers .
In the first half of the season it was confirmed that the team could no longer maintain the dominance of previous years. Ferrari started the season in Australia and Bahrain with two victories for Sebastian Vettel and had a consistently fast car until the summer break, which scored points with better tire management and superior top speed. For the first time since 2014, Mercedes-Benz no longer produced the undisputed best engine in Formula 1. The 2018 Mercedes also appeared to be technically vulnerable. At the Austrian GP, for the first time since the beginning of the hybrid era, both Mercedes failed for technical reasons. Nevertheless, with Lewis Hamilton in the car up to the Belgian Grand Prix, a total of five races were won.
After the summer break, Mercedes was able to decisively develop the F1 W09, similar to the previous year, while Ferrari lost points due to technical, tactical and driving errors. Vettel was still able to win in Belgium , but Hamilton struck back with victories in Italy , Singapore , Russia and Japan . After the race in Suzuka, he was 67 points ahead in the world championship. When Red Bull also presented itself victorious in the last races of the season and Mercedes showed renewed weaknesses in tire management in the USA and Mexico, the decisions in the world championship were already made. In Mexico, Hamilton was world champion early with a fourth place. The team was also able to defend its title from the previous year. Lewis Hamilton thus equalized Juan Manuel Fangio's five world titles . In addition, with Schumacher , Fangio and Hamilton, the three most successful Formula 1 drivers in history have now all driven races for Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton was world champion with 408 points and Valtteri Bottas was fifth overall with 247 points. Mercedes was 84 points ahead of second Ferrari with 655 points. A total of 13 pole positions and eleven Grand Prix victories were achieved in 2018. Bottas started from pole position twice, but remained without a win.
At the end of 2018, Mercedes junior driver Pascal Wehrlein and the Mercedes racing team parted ways . Wehrlein wanted to take over the management of his career himself after he was not given a cockpit in Formula 1 as a Mercedes trainee. Subsequently, Toto Wolff questioned the junior program itself, as Mercedes would not be able to offer its drivers any cockpits in Formula 1 without a satellite team.
Season 2019
There were various personnel changes in the team for the 2019 season. For example, the previous head of design, Aldo Costa, already informed the team management in summer 2018 that he would be stepping down from operational business in 2019 and that from now on he would only be available as a technical consultant. Costa switched from Ferrari to Mercedes in 2011 and, alongside Ross Brawn as team principal and Geoffrey Willis as project manager of the F1 W05 at the time, was one of the most important people in the technical preparation for the successes during the hybrid era. The position was not filled directly and the tasks were distributed within the engineering group. In addition, Performance Director Mark Ellis announced that he would like to take a sabbatical year in 2019. He is represented by the previous chief aerodynamicist Lois Serra.
At the end of 2018, the former McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne was hired as another development driver alongside Esteban Gutierrez , who will mainly work on the simulator in 2019. Vandoorne also competes in Formula E with HWA . After his season at Force India 2019, Mercedes junior driver Esteban Ocon has to make do with the job as a substitute driver and will support the team on the racetrack. Hamilton and Bottas stayed as regular drivers.
The emergency vehicle for the tenth season since returning to the factory team, the Mercedes-AMG F1 W10 EQ Power + , was presented at a film day in Silverstone on February 13, 2019. The technical regulations stipulated wider and simpler front and rear wings for the 2019 season in order to make it easier to follow behind and overtake. Despite these changes, the W10 was a further development of its predecessor, as nothing was changed in the general aerodynamic concept with a long wheelbase and little adjustment. With the new car, the performance of the rear tires should be better preserved on various types of track than with the predecessor. With this aim in mind, the chassis geometry and the air flow in the rear, which has been cut even further, were examined. The power unit of the previous season has been further developed and named F1 M10 EQ Power + in the 2019 season .
During the pre-season tests in Barcelona, the Scuderia Ferrari was able to drive more constant racing simulations and faster lap times than the Mercedes. In the first week, Mercedes mainly did system checks and only focused on the performance in the second week with an aerodynamic B version of the F1 W10. With the new front wing, two design philosophies developed at the beginning of the season. As in previous years, Mercedes relied on steeply inclined wings over the permitted width in order to generate as much downforce as possible but also air resistance. Ferrari developed outward sloping, flat front wings for lower air resistance and higher aerodynamic efficiency. At first Mercedes seemed to have missed a trend and Ferrari to have implemented the new regulations better. The Scuderia traveled to Melbourne as a favorite for the season opener .
However, Mercedes got off to a better start to the season and was superior on the opening weekend with a one-two for Hamilton in front of Bottas. At the second race weekend in Bahrain , Ferrari was on double pole, but Charles Leclerc , while in the lead, lost engine power and fell back to third behind Hamilton and Bottas.
The following races then made it clear that the balanced performance in Bahrain in the first half of the season was an exception. With its front wing concept, Mercedes was able to generate more and better balanced downforce and thus better meet the requirements of the 2019 generation of Pirelli tires. Due to the increased downforce, the drivers got more energy into the tires and thus got them into the correct temperature window faster in qualifying. The cars also slipped less during the race and there was less tire wear. Ferrari was only able to show off its aerodynamic efficiency on routes with a high proportion of straights (Bahrain, Spielberg ). Five double victories in the first five races illustrate the renewed dominance. Five double victories at the start of the season are a new record, a sixth double victory in a row would have meant the entire record, but in Monaco Bottas was only third behind race winner Lewis Hamilton after a collision with Max Verstappen in the pit lane.
On May 20, 2019, the previous chairman of the racing team's supervisory board, Niki Lauda , died after a long illness. In their statements, various team representatives paid tribute to Lauda's special achievements in setting up the team structures before 2014 and his diplomatic role as the team's foreign minister . At the subsequent Monaco Grand Prix , Lauda was honored with various memories on the car.
At the Canadian Grand Prix , Sebastian Vettel drove a Ferrari to pole position for the first time since the Bahrain GP. Hamilton was still able to win after he forced Vettel into a mistake in the race and this was punished with five seconds for unsafe return to the track directly in front of Hamilton. At the Austrian Grand Prix , the team had major performance problems for the first time of the season. The high altitude of Spielberg, combined with the extreme heat, led to cooling problems on both Mercedes. Since the tight bodywork did not allow any further cooling, the performance of the engines had to be throttled in the race. Hamilton also damaged the front wing at a notch, he finished fifth, Bottas third. After Barcelona and Le Castellet , the tenth round of the season at Silverstone showed once again that the F1 W10 was superior on winding roads. Hamilton won each time before Bottas and further expanded his lead in the championship.
At the Japanese Grand Prix , Mercedes won the constructors' world championship early and for the sixth time in a row with a victory by Bottas and Hamilton. In Austin , the team landed a double victory with Valtteri Bottas ahead of Lewis Hamilton. With this, Hamilton secured his sixth world title ahead of time, while Bottas was runner-up for the first time. Hamilton was only missing one title on record champion Schumacher .
The team finished the season in Abu Dhabi with a win for Lewis Hamilton. The world champion ended the year with 413 points, which means a new record, while vice world champion Bottas achieved 326 points. Mercedes scored a total of 739 points and thus prevailed more clearly than last year against Ferrari, who scored 504 points in second place. A total of 15 Grand Prix victories and ten pole positions were achieved in 2019. Hamilton achieved eleven wins, Bottas four. Both drivers were on pole position five times. The team won both titles significantly thanks to the dominance in the first half of the season. Towards the end of the season, the balance of power among the three top teams was overall more balanced.
2020 season
In the winter, the team saw itself several times because of the economic challenges facing the parent company, the lack of signing the contracts for the new Formula 1 from 2021 and the assumption that Mercedes could have nothing to prove after six world championship titles and a lot to lose Faced with exit rumors. At the end of January, the British media reported that Daimler was preparing a board meeting at which a decision would be made to withdraw from Formula 1. One option is to sell the team to Lawrence Stroll and Toto Wolff themselves. CEO Ola Källenius denied that this meeting would take place and that the exit would be up for debate. Team boss Wolff finally confirmed in an interview in mid-February that Mercedes will drive safely in Formula 1 in 2021 and is not considering an exit because Formula 1 makes sense for Mercedes. The team structures would already be adapted to the cost cap that will take effect from 2021 and the goal is to be successful in racing with the team at no cost in the medium term.
On February 10, 2020, in contrast to previous years, the team initially presented the color design of the 2020 Silver Arrow on an F1 W10 from last year as part of a sponsor presentation in London . Ineos was introduced as a new partner and, in addition to the familiar design, provides wine-red color accents. The partnership is long-term over five years. The new Mercedes-AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance was finally presented on February 14, 2020 as part of a first shakedown in Silverstone.
In the year before last, the car is based on the same basic aerodynamic concept with low pitch and long wheelbase. Although the car is an evolution of its successful predecessor, it has some special features and optimizations. In 2019 , the cooling of the PU was a weak point in the overall package. The cooling capacity has been increased without having to accept aerodynamic disadvantages. In addition, engine components have been optimized so that they allow a higher working temperature. The cooling inlets could still be made smaller and the side boxes deeply undercut in order to improve the flow to the rear. For the same reason, the suspension of the front and rear wheels have also been set higher on the chassis.
The team took part in the six-day pre-season tests in Barcelona and set the fastest times of the day twice. The DAS system (Dual Axis Steering), discovered on the second day of the test through onboard recordings, attracted particular attention . This new type of three-dimensional steering enables the driver to adjust the track on the front axle on straight sections of the road by pulling the handlebars along the steering wheel. The team had the legality of the system confirmed by the FIA before testing began.
The start of the season was postponed from March (Australia) to July (Austria) due to the global corona crisis . There Red Bull made use of its right to lodge a protest with the stewards against DAS. However, this was rejected because the actively operated system is viewed by the FIA as part of the steering system and not the suspension system. Active wheel suspension would be prohibited according to Article 10.2.3 of the FIA technical regulations.
Valtteri Bottas then won the opening race ahead of Lewis Hamilton , who, however, received a five-second time penalty after an incident with Alexander Albon and was classified fourth. When Great Styria , which a week later, also on the Red Bull Ring was held, Lewis Hamilton won ahead of Valtteri Bottas. Immediately afterwards he also won in Hungary , while Valtteri Bottas came third. With his triumph, Hamilton set Michael Schumacher 's record of eight wins on the same route. The former Mercedes driver achieved his eight victories at Magny Cours .
At Silverstone , too , the two works cars were superior and in qualifying they drove more than a second out of third-placed Verstappen. In the final phase of the race, however, both drivers suffered tire damage, with Bottas only finishing eleventh after a necessary pit stop and Hamilton finishing the last lap with a flat tire before Verstappen. With Bottas, for the first time since the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a Mercedes finished a race outside of the points. In Azerbaijan 2018 , however, Bottas did not see the checkered flag, but was only classified as 14th due to the distance covered. Hamilton, on the other hand, set a new record for his win, namely the most home win with a total of seven. So far he has shared the best value with Frenchman Alain Prost , who won six times in France . He also surpassed the record of 19 start-to-finish victories that he had previously shared with Ayrton Senna . A week later, Hamilton and Bottas were second and third behind Verstappen at the 70th anniversary of Formula 1 . At the following race in Spain , Hamilton won and was the new leader in the statistics for the most podiums in front of Michael Schumacher with 155. Bottas finished third and thus took his 50th podium in Formula 1. Then there was a double victory for the team in Belgium Order Hamilton before Bottas. As before in Spain, it was a start-to-finish victory for Hamilton. In doing so, he also improved Michael Schumacher's record for the most kilometers in the lead (24,110) to 24,275. Hamilton currently leads the drivers' standings after the seventh race with 157 points, while Bottas is third with 107 points. In the constructors' championship, Mercedes is currently in the lead with 264 points.
Numbers and dates
Statistics in Formula 1
Status: 2020 Belgian Grand Prix
| season | Team name | chassis | engine | tires | Grand Prix | Victories | Second | Third | Poles | nice Round | Points | World Cup rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Daimler Benz | W 196 | Mercedes-Benz 2.5 L8 | C. | 6th | 4th | 1 | 2 | 4th | 4th | 60.14 | - |
| 1955 | Daimler Benz | W 196 | Mercedes-Benz 2.5 L8 | C. | 6th | 5 | 4th | 1 | 4th | 5 | 79 | - |
| 2010 | Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team | MGP W01 | Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8 | B. | 19th | - | - | 3 | - | - | 214 | 4th |
| 2011 | Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team | MGP W02 | Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8 | P | 19th | - | - | - | - | - | 165 | 4th |
| 2012 | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | F1 W03 | Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8 | P | 20th | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 142 | 5. |
| 2013 | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | F1 W04 | Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8 | P | 19th | 3 | 1 | 5 | 8th | 1 | 360 | 2. |
| 2014 | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | F1 W05 hybrid |
Mercedes-Benz 1.6 V6 Turbo (PU106A Hybrid) |
P | 19th | 16 | 13 | 2 | 18th | 12 | 701 | 1. |
| 2015 | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | F1 W06 hybrid | Mercedes-Benz 1.6 V6 Turbo (PU106B Hybrid) |
P | 19th | 16 | 13 | 3 | 18th | 13 | 703 | 1. |
| 2016 | Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team | F1 W07 hybrid | Mercedes-Benz 1.6 V6 Turbo (PU106C Hybrid) |
P | 21st | 19th | 8th | 6th | 20th | 9 | 765 | 1. |
| 2017 | Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport | F1 W08 EQ Power + | Mercedes-Benz 1.6 V6 Turbo (F1 M08 EQ Power +) |
P | 20th | 12 | 10 | 4th | 15th | 9 | 668 | 1. |
| 2018 | Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport | F1 W09 EQ Power + | Mercedes-Benz 1.6 V6 Turbo (F1 M09 EQ Power +) |
P | 21st | 11 | 10 | 4th | 13 | 10 | 655 | 1. |
| 2019 | Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport | F1 W10 EQ Power + | Mercedes-Benz 1.6 V6 Turbo (F1 M10 EQ Power +) |
P | 21st | 15th | 11 | 6th | 10 | 9 | 739 | 1. |
| 2020 | Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport | F1 W11 EQ Perf. | Mercedes-Benz 1.6 V6 Turbo (F1 M11 EQ Perf.) |
P | 7th | 6th | 3 | 3 | 7th | 3 | 264 | 1. |
| total | 217 | 108 | 75 | 40 | 118 | 78 | 5515.14 | |||||
All Mercedes drivers in Formula 1
Status: 2020 Belgian Grand Prix
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| Surname | Years | Grand Prix | Points | Victories | Second | Third | Poles | nice Round | best WM-Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lewis Hamilton
|
2013– | 147 | 2675 | 68 | 24 | 16 | 67 | 37 | 1. ( 2014 , 2015 , 2017 - 2019 ) |
 Nico Rosberg
|
2010-2016 | 136 | 1519 | 23 | 24 | 8th | 30th | 18th | 1. ( 2016 ) |
|
Valtteri Bottas
|
2017– | 69 | 985 | 8th | 22nd | 12 | 13 | 13 | 2. ( 2019 ) |
|
Michael sSchumacher
|
2010–2012 | 58 | 197 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | 8. ( 2011 ) |
 Juan Manuel Fangio
|
1954, 1955 | 12 | 81.14 | 8th | 1 | 1 | 7th | 5 | 1. ( 1954 , 1955 ) |
|
Karl Kling
|
1954, 1955 | 11 | 17th | - | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | 5th ( 1954 ) |
|
Hans Herrmann
|
1954, 1955 | 6th | 9 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | 7th ( 1954 ) |
|
Stirling Moss
|
1955 | 6th | 23 | 1 | 2 | - | 1 | 2 | 2. ( 1955 ) |
 Piero Taruffi
|
1955 | 2 | 9 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 6. ( 1955 ) |
|
Hermann Lang
|
1954 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 57th ( 1954 ) |
 André Simon
|
1955 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 60th ( 1955 ) |
Current Mercedes drivers are shown in yellow.
- ↑ Comparability between the epochs is limited due to different point systems.
- ↑ Fangio got 0.14 for the fastest race lap at the 1954 British GP, as seven drivers were at the same time.
- ↑ Kling, Herrmann and Moss each received one of the three points for fourth place at the 1955 Argentina GP because they shared a chassis.
Results in Formula 1
1954-1955
| season | chassis | driver | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | Points | rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | W 196 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- | - | ||
|
J. Fangio
|
- | 1 | 4th | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||||
|
K. Kling
|
- | 2 | 7th | 4th | DNF | DNF | 5 | |||||||
|
H. Herrmann
|
- | DNF | DNF | 3 | 4th | DNF | ||||||||
|
H. Lang
|
9 | DNF | ||||||||||||
| 1955 | W 196 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- | - | ||||
|
J. Fangio
|
- | 1 | DNF | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||||
|
H. Herrmann
|
- | 4th | DNQ | |||||||||||
|
K. Kling
|
- | 4th | DNF | DNF | 3 | DNF | ||||||||
|
S. Moss
|
- | 4th | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | DNF | |||||||
|
A. Simon
|
10 | DNF | ||||||||||||
|
P. Taruffi
|
- | 4th | 2 | |||||||||||
- ↑ Only from the 1974 Formula 1 season were there fixed start numbers. Before that, the numbers varied between the individual races and training sessions.
- ↑ The constructors' championship was only introduced in 1958.
- ↑ Start number 9 in the 1954 German Grand Prix.
- ↑ Start number 10 at the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix.
| Legend | ||
|---|---|---|
| colour | abbreviation | meaning |
| gold | - | victory |
| silver | - | 2nd place |
| bronze | - | 3rd place |
| green | - | Placement in the points |
| blue | - | Classified outside the point ranks |
| violet | DNF | Race not finished (did not finish) |
| NC | not classified | |
| red | DNQ | did not qualify |
| DNPQ | failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify) | |
| black | DSQ | disqualified |
| White | DNS | not at the start (did not start) |
| WD | withdrawn | |
| Light Blue | PO | only participated in the training (practiced only) |
| TD | Friday test driver | |
| without | DNP | did not participate in the training (did not practice) |
| INJ | injured or sick | |
| EX | excluded | |
| DNA | did not arrive | |
| C. | Race canceled | |
| no participation in the World Cup | ||
| other | P / bold | Pole position |
| SR / italic | Fastest race lap | |
| * | not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered |
|
| () | Streak results | |
| underlined | Leader in the overall standings | |
Since 2010
| season | chassis | driver | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14th | 15th | 16 | 17th | 18th | 19th | 20th | 21st | Points | rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | MGP W01 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
214 | 4th | ||||
|
M. Schumacher
|
3 | 6th | 10 | DNF | 10 | 4th | 12 | 4th | 11 | 15th | 9 | 9 | 11 | 7th | 9 | 13 | 6th | 4th | 7th | DNF | ||||||
|
N. Rosberg
|
4th | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 7th | 5 | 6th | 10 | 3 | 8th | DNF | 6th | 5 | 5 | 17 * | DNF | 6th | 4th | ||||||
| 2011 | MGP W02 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
165 | 4th | ||||
|
M. Schumacher
|
7th | DNF | 9 | 8th | 12 | 6th | DNF | 4th | 17th | 9 | 8th | DNF | 5 | 5 | DNF | 6th | DNF | 5 | 7th | 15th | ||||||
|
N. Rosberg
|
8th | DNF | 12 | 5 | 5 | 7th | 11 | 11 | 7th | 6th | 7th | 9 | 6th | DNF | 7th | 10 | 8th | 6th | 6th | 7th | ||||||
| 2012 | F1 W03 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
142 | 5. | |||
|
M. Schumacher
|
7th | DNF | 10 | DNF | 10 | DNF | DNF | DNF | 3 | 7th | 7th | DNF | 7th | 6th | DNF | 11 | 13 | 22 * | 11 | 16 | 7th | |||||
|
N. Rosberg
|
8th | 12 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 7th | 2 | 6th | 6th | 15th | 10 | 10 | 11 | 7th | 5 | DNF | DNF | 11 | DNF | 13 | 15th | |||||
| 2013 | F1 W04 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
360 | 2. | ||||
|
N. Rosberg
|
9 | DNF | 4th | DNF | 9 | 6th | 1 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 19 * | 4th | 6th | 4th | 7th | 8th | 2 | 3 | 9 | 5 | ||||||
|
L. Hamilton
|
10 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 4th | 3 | 4th | 5 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 5 | DNF | 6th | 7th | 4th | 9 | ||||||
| 2014 |
F1 W05 hybrid |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
701 | 1. | ||||
|
L. Hamilton
|
44 | DNF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | DNF | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | DNF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
|
N. Rosberg
|
6th | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | DNF | 1 | 4th | 2 | 2 | DNF | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 14th | ||||||
| 2015 |
F1 W06 hybrid |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
703 | 1. | ||||
|
L. Hamilton
|
44 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6th | 1 | 1 | DNF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||||
|
N. Rosberg
|
6th | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8th | 2 | 17 * | 4th | 2 | DNF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| 2016 |
F1 W07 hybrid |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
765 | 1. | ||
|
L. Hamilton
|
44 | 2 | 3 | 7th | 2 | DNF | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | DNF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||
|
N. Rosberg
|
6th | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | DNF | 7th | 5 | 1 | 4th | 3 | 2 | 4th | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| 2017 |
F1 W08 EQ Power + |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
668 | 1. | |||
|
L. Hamilton
|
44 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4th | 1 | 7th | 1 | 5 | 4th | 1 | 4th | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4th | 2 | |||||
|
V. Bottas
|
77 | 3 | 6th | 3 | 1 | DNF | 4th | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4th | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| 2018 |
F1 W09 EQ Power + |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
655 | 1. | ||
|
L. Hamilton
|
44 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 | DNF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4th | 1 | 1 | ||||
|
V. Bottas
|
77 | 8th | 2 | 2 | 14 * | 2 | 5 | 2 | 7th | DNF | 4th | 2 | 5 | 4th | 3 | 4th | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | ||||
| 2019 |
F1 W10 EQ Power + |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
739 | 1. | ||
|
L. Hamilton
|
44 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7th | 1 | ||||
|
V. Bottas
|
77 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 2 | 3 | 2 | DNF | 8th | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | DNF | 4th | ||||
| 2020 |
F1 W11 EQ Perf. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
264 | 1. | ||||||
|
L. Hamilton
|
44 | 4th | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
|
V. Bottas
|
77 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
Customer car at the Indianapolis 500
Between 1947 and 1957, private individuals occasionally used a Mercedes-Benz W 154 with chassis number 9, which they had acquired in the post-war chaos in Czechoslovakia, in the 500-mile race in Indianapolis . The pre-war Silver Arrow from 1938 was used in 1947 and 1948 by team boss Don Lee at the Brickyard . The small private team was ultimately overwhelmed, both technically and personally, with the complex operation of the W 154 and its V12 engine. The car consequently failed in both races for technical reasons. The chassis was used again by Joel Thorne in 1949 , but could not qualify. Mercedes racing director Alfred Neubauer watched the 1949 race on site to check a possible future Mercedes plant involvement in Indianapolis. However, this did not happen despite the brand's extensive motorsport offensive in the early 1950s.
In 1957 , the chassis of the W 154 reappeared on the Indianapolis 500. The car was now powered by a Jaguar in- line six-cylinder. The Indianapolis 500 was an official part of the Formula 1 World Championship from 1950 to 1960 , so formally it was the only use of a Mercedes customer car in Formula 1. However, the vehicle was used privately throughout and is therefore to be viewed independently of the Mercedes factory use and does not appear in the statistics of the Mercedes designer.
| season | chassis | driver | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | Points | rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | W 154 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- | - | ||
|
D. Kladis
|
- | DNQ | |||||||||||
| Legend | ||
|---|---|---|
| colour | abbreviation | meaning |
| gold | - | victory |
| silver | - | 2nd place |
| bronze | - | 3rd place |
| green | - | Placement in the points |
| blue | - | Classified outside the point ranks |
| violet | DNF | Race not finished (did not finish) |
| NC | not classified | |
| red | DNQ | did not qualify |
| DNPQ | failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify) | |
| black | DSQ | disqualified |
| White | DNS | not at the start (did not start) |
| WD | withdrawn | |
| Light Blue | PO | only participated in the training (practiced only) |
| TD | Friday test driver | |
| without | DNP | did not participate in the training (did not practice) |
| INJ | injured or sick | |
| EX | excluded | |
| DNA | did not arrive | |
| C. | Race canceled | |
| no participation in the World Cup | ||
| other | P / bold | Pole position |
| SR / italic | Fastest race lap | |
| * | not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered |
|
| () | Streak results | |
| underlined | Leader in the overall standings | |
Records in Formula 1
.jpg)
| record | Record value | season | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| most drivers' championships in a row | 6th | 2014 - 2019 | ||||||||||||||||
| most constructors' championships in a row | 6th | 2014-2019 | ||||||||||||||||
| most Grand Prix victories by a designer in one season | 19th | 2016 | ||||||||||||||||
| most double victories by a designer in one season | 12 | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||
| most pole positions of a constructor in one season | 20th | 2016 | ||||||||||||||||
| most constructors podium finishes in one season | 33 | 2016 | ||||||||||||||||
| most points of a designer in one season | 765 | 2016 | ||||||||||||||||
| most double victories in a row | 5 | 2014 2015-2016 2019 |
||||||||||||||||
| most double victories in a row at the start of the season | 5 | 2019 | ||||||||||||||||
| highest rate of pole positions of all designers | 52.9% | 1954 -2019 | ||||||||||||||||
| highest rate of double victories of all designers | 25.2% | 1954-2019 | ||||||||||||||||
| Status: end of season 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||
- ↑ Shared with Scuderia Ferrari
- ↑ Shared with Scuderia Ferrari
Awards
In 2015, Mercedes was the first team ever to receive the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy for special achievements in motorsport. The award related to winning the 2014 Drivers and Constructors' World Championship.
In the spring of 2018, the Mercedes works team won the Laureus World Sports Award as Team of the Year for winning the fourth designer title in a row in the 2017 season.
In February 2020, Lewis Hamilton won the Laureus Award as Sportsman of the Year for his achievements in the 2019 season and his six driver titles to date , together with Lionel Messi . For the first time in history, the title was shared based on the same number of votes. Hamilton won all of his titles and races with Mercedes engines. The last time a motor sportsman was honored was Sebastian Vettel in 2014.
Overview of the current staff
According to various sources, the team employed between 968 and 1050 people in the chassis factory at the Brackley site in early 2019 . Another 600 employees were added at the engine plant in Brixworth .
| Area of responsibility | Surname | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular driver |
Lewis Hamilton
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
Valtteri Bottas
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Simulator and reserve driver |
Esteban Ocon
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
Stoffel Vandoorne
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
Esteban Gutiérrez
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Team boss and managing director / motorsport director Mercedes-Benz |
Toto Wolff
|
|||||||||||||||||
| chairman of the supervisory board |
Markus Schäfer
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Team manager |
Ron Meadows
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Technical director / development manager |
James Allison
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Operations Director |
Rob Thomas
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Performance director |
Loic Serra
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Technology Director |
Mike Elliott
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Chief engineer |
Phil Prew
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Chief designer |
John Owen
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Chief aerodynamicist |
Lorenzo Sassi
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Chief Engineer Digital Transformation |
Geoffrey Willis
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Chief engineer for simulation and development |
Giles Wood
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Chief strategist |
James Vowles
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Chief Race Engineer |
Andrew Shovlin
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Race engineer Hamilton |
Peter Bonnington
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Race engineer Bottas |
Riccardo Musconi
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Managing Director of the engine plant |
Hywel Thomas
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Chairman of the Board of Management Daimler AG |
 Ola Källenius
|
|||||||||||||||||
| Status: beginning of the season 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||
Junior program
Mercedes-Benz is currently promoting three young drivers as part of Grand Prix sport:
| driver | vintage | Period | Current series | successes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Esteban Ocon
|
1996 | since 2015 |
Formula 1 driver Renault |
GP3 Champion 2015 Formula 1 World Championship Eight 2017 |
|
George Russell
|
1998 | since 2017 |
Formula 1 driver Williams |
GP3 Champion 2017 Formula 2 Champion 2018 |
|
Andrea Kimi Antonelli
|
2006 | since 2018 | Karting | National titles |
Current sponsors
_Day_3.jpg)
Title partner
Principle partner
Team Partners
-
UBS
-
EPSON
-
ANGRY
-
/ Tommy Hilfiger
-
IWC Schaffhausen
-
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
-
Marriott Bonvoy
-
Monster Energy
-
Pure storage
-
Crowd strike
-
TIBCO
-
AMD
Team Suppliers
All Mercedes Formula 1 cars
At Mercedes-Benz, the letter W as an abbreviation for car , in combination with a number, has always stood for the internal designation of the individual series. Similarly, the engines were previously abbreviated with an M. Initially, the number assignment did not follow a pattern, since the re-entry in 2010, the racing cars have been numbered consecutively. They can be distinguished from the pre-war models with the same number by adding different names.
1954-1955
W 196 (1954–1955)
2010-2013
.jpg)
2014-2016
F1 W05 Hybrid (2014)
F1 W06 Hybrid (2015)
F1 W07 Hybrid (2016)
.jpg)
2017-2019
F1 W08 EQ Power + (2017)
F1 W09 EQ Power + (2018)
F1 W10 EQ Power + (2019)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
See also
- Mercedes-Benz (motorsport) , motorsport activities of Mercedes-Benz
- Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains , Mercedes-Benz as engine supplier in Formula 1
- Silver arrow
literature
- Günter Engelen: Mercedes-Benz racing and sports cars; since 1894 , 1st edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03206-4 .
- Trevor Legate: The fascination of Mercedes-Benz . Parragon Books Ltd., Bath, UK 2009, ISBN 978-1-4075-5933-9 .
- Rainer W. Schlegelmilch, Hartmut Lehbrink: Mercedes Sport . Tandem Verlag GmbH, Potsdam, ISBN 978-3-8427-0266-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Extract from the British Commercial Register .
- ↑ Jörg Walz: Geschichte des Motorsports, Bielefeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-7688-3275-5 , p. 22, p. 28, pp. 60–69.
- ↑ Trevor Legate: Fascination Mercedes-Benz. Parragon, Bath 2009, ISBN 978-1-4075-5933-9 , pp. 115-116.
- ^ Günter Engelen: Mercedes-Benz racing and sports cars. Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03206-4 , pp. 362-377.
- ↑ Mike Lawrence: Grand Prix Cars 1945-65, p. 220.
- ↑ Günter Engelen: Mercedes-Benz racing and sports cars, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03206-4 , p. 377.
- ^ Günter Engelen: Mercedes-Benz racing and sports cars, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03206-4 , p. 348.
- ^ Günter Engelen: Mercedes-Benz racing and sports cars. Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03206-4 , p. 515.
- ↑ Trevor Legate: Fascination Mercedes-Benz. Parragon, Bath 2009, ISBN 978-1-4075-5933-9 , p. 164.
- ^ Rainer Holzschuh: Kicker special edition Motorsport 2019, Olympia-Verlag GmbH, Nuremberg, interview by Anno Hecker, ISSN 2569-0892 , pp. 58–59.
- ↑ Oliver Hartwich: The circle closes: Mercedes-Benz and Michael Schumacher. mercedes-seite.de, January 27, 2010, accessed on March 2, 2019 .
- ^ Günter Engelen: Mercedes-Benz racing and sports cars. Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03206-4 , p. 529.
- ↑ Schlegelmilch / Lehbrink: Mercedes Sport, Potsdam, ISBN 978-3-8427-0266-0 , pp. 148-149.
- ↑ Jörg Walz: History of Motorsports, Bielefeld 2011, ISBN 978-3-7688-3275-5 , pp. 184-185.
- ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: That's behind the new Mercedes works team. Motorsport-Total.com, November 16, 2009, accessed November 16, 2009 .
- ↑ Stephan Heublein: Silver works team - Mercedes takes over Brawn GP. Motorsport-Magazin.com, November 16, 2009, accessed November 16, 2009 .
- ↑ "Petronas participates in Mercedes" ( Kicker Online on December 21, 2009).
- ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Officially: Mercedes joins the world championship team! Motorsport-Total.com, November 16, 2009, accessed November 16, 2009 .
- ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Resignation from resignation: "Schumi" is back! Motorsport-Total.com, December 23, 2009, accessed December 23, 2009 .
- ^ Schlegelmilch / Lehbrink: Mercedes Sport, Potsdam, ISBN 978-3-8427-0266-0 , p. 214.
- ^ "Officially: Mercedes lets Heidfeld switch to Pirelli" (Motorsport-Total.com on August 17, 2010).
- ↑ auto-motor-und-sport.de: Mercedes takes over 100 percent of the F1 team , accessed on February 2, 2011.
- ↑ The first picture of the new Silver Arrow. Motorsport-Total.com, January 31, 2011, accessed February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Günter Engelen: Mercedes-Benz racing and sports cars, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03206-4 , pp. 655–657.
- ↑ Dominik Sharaf: 2011: A Canada Grand Prix for Eternity. Motorsport-Total.com, June 2, 2015, accessed February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Günter Engelen: Mercedes-Benz racing and sports cars, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03206-4 , p. 650.
- ↑ Michael Schmidt: 250 million for two titles. In: auto-motor-und-sport.de. December 8, 2014, accessed February 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Sven Haidinger: Officially: Mercedes brings Costa and Willis. In: motorsport-total.com. September 30, 2011, accessed February 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Mercedes wind tunnel also converted because of Pirelli. In: motorsport-total.com. November 25, 2012, accessed February 18, 2019 .
- ^ "Silver Arrows start 2012 as Mercedes AMG" (Motorsport-Total.com on December 5, 2011).
- ↑ Tobias Grüner: FIA throws down Lotus protest. auto-motor-und-sport.de, April 12, 2012, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Markus Lüttgens: Late starter Mercedes unveils new Silver Arrow. motorsport-total.com, February 21, 2012, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ^ Great moment for Rosberg. autobild.de, April 16, 2012, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Schumacher has to hand over pole position to Webber. welt.de, May 26, 2012, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Lauda becomes the Mercedes supervisory board ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Handelsblatt-Online , September 28, 2012.
- ↑ Daimler takes over the Mercedes team completely . Spox.com , November 19, 2012. Retrieved January 5, 2014.
- ↑ Mercedes separates from Head of Motorsport Haug. spiegel.de, December 13, 2012, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Wolff and Lauda buy Mercedes shares. motorsport-total.com, January 21, 2013, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Toto Wolff sells the last Williams shares. motorsport-magazin.com, March 9, 2016, accessed February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Olaf Mehlhose: Maiden voyage in Jerez - The 1st round of the F1 W04. motorsport-magazin.com, February 4, 2013, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Kerstin Hasenbichler: Heartbeat duel at the limit - Red Bull double victory in Malaysia. motorsport-magazin.com, March 24, 2013, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Mercedes now in silver and with a star. weser-kurier.de, May 10, 2013, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Robert Seiwert: From test to judgment: This is how the test-gate affair went. motorsport-magazin.com, June 21, 2013, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Kerstin Hasenbichler: Chapter closed - Mercedes accepts punishment: No appeal. motorsport-magazin.com, June 21, 2013, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
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Teams and drivers of the Formula 1 World Championship 2020
| Mercedes | Ferrari | Red Bull | McLaren | Renault | AlphaTauri | Racing Point | Alfa Romeo Racing | Haas | Williams |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44 Hamilton 77 Bottas |
5 Vettel 16 Leclerc |
33 Verstappen 23 Albon |
55 Sainz 4 Norris |
3 Ricciardo 31 Ocon |
26 Kvyat 10 Gasly |
18 Stroll 11 Pérez 27 Hülkenberg |
7 Raikkonen 99 Giovinazzi |
8 Grosjean 20 Magnussen |
63 Russell 6 Latifi |