Team

Mercedes Benz

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Mercedes-Benz is a German automotive brand founded in 1926 through the merger of the companies of Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler. Both predecessor companies had already enjoyed success in motor racing before the merger. A single Benz competed in the world's first motor race, the 1894 Paris–Rouen, where Émile Roger finished 14th. Throughout its history, Mercedes-Benz has periodically withdrawn from motorsport entirely — notably in the late 1930s and again after the 1955 Le Mans disaster — and then returned to front-line competition.

At the 1899 Nice race, Emil Jellinek drove under the pseudonym "Monsieur Mercédès", an event many consider the birth of the Mercedes-Benz brand. Mercedes-Benz took part in the Formula One World Championship in 1954 and 1955, winning two championship titles for Juan Manuel Fangio. Following the 1955 Le Mans disaster — where a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR rammed another car (an Austin-Healey), took off into the stands, and killed more than 80 spectators — the company left motorsport. In that same year, Stirling Moss and co-driver Denis Jenkinson won the 1955 Mille Miglia road race in Italy in a record-breaking drive, averaging almost 98 mph in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR.

It was not until 1987 that Mercedes-Benz returned to front-line competition, re-entering Le Mans, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM), and Formula One with Sauber. In the 1990s, Mercedes-Benz partnered with British engine builder Ilmor (later Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines) to campaign IndyCars under USAC/CART rules, winning the 1994 Indianapolis 500 and the 1994 CART IndyCar World Series Championship with Al Unser Jr. at the wheel. The 1990s also saw Mercedes-Benz return to GT racing with the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, winning two titles in the FIA GT1 class.

Mercedes-Benz returned as a Formula One engine manufacturer in 1994, with engines designed and manufactured by Ilmor in Brixworth. The company initially partnered with Sauber before switching to McLaren in 1995. Although the Mercedes engines were not immediately successful, Mika Häkkinen won drivers' championships in 1998 and 1999, and Lewis Hamilton won in 2008, as well as a constructors' championship in 1998. Mercedes part-owned McLaren, and the collaboration extended into the production of road-going cars such as the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. In 2007, McLaren-Mercedes was fined a record US$100 million for stealing confidential Ferrari technical data.

In 2009, Ross Brawn's newly formed Brawn GP team used Mercedes engines to win both titles. At the end of that season, Mercedes-Benz sold its 40 percent stake in McLaren and bought 70 percent of Brawn GP jointly with an Abu Dhabi-based investment consortium. Brawn GP was renamed Mercedes GP for the 2010 season.

After major rule changes in 2014, Mercedes clinched both the drivers' and constructors' titles with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, having dominated much of the season. Mercedes repeated in 2015, winning 16 out of 19 races, and again in 2016, winning 19 of the 21 races. Mercedes continued winning drivers' championships from 2017 to 2020 and constructors' championships from 2017 to 2021, becoming the first team to win seven consecutive double-championships. Hamilton was champion in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020; Rosberg won in 2016. The streak ended in 2021 when Max Verstappen of Red Bull won the drivers' championship.

Hamilton holds the all-time records for most pole positions (104) and race victories (105). He drove for Mercedes from 2013 to 2024 and had competed using Mercedes engines since 2007.

Prior to the 2019–20 Formula E Championship, Mercedes announced entry through its EQ branch, with drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries. De Vries clinched the title in the 2020–21 season; Vandoorne won in 2021–22. After winning both driver and team championships, Mercedes EQ left Formula E and sold the team to McLaren.

Rudolf Caracciola, described in the corpus as one of the greatest Grand Prix drivers in history, drove the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows in competition. Rudolf Uhlenhaut, who joined Daimler-Benz in 1931, designed the Silver Arrows as well as the 300 SL and 300 SLR. Juan Manuel Fangio served as honorary president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina from 1987 until his death in 1995. Michael Schumacher drove for Mercedes in the World Endurance Championship in the 1980s and in the Formula One team from 2010 to 2012.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.