After Mercedes secured their ninth Constructors’ Championship in 2026, F1.com seems to be again on the Silver Arrows’ outstanding historical past, together with Juan Manuel Fangio’s early success, their record-breaking run of eight consecutive titles and their return to the highest of Formulation 1.
Mercedes have written their title into the F1 historical past books as soon as once more by clinching a ninth constructors’ crown, their factors on the 2026 Sao Paulo Grand Prix returning them to the highest of the game for the primary time in 5 years.
George Russell and Kimi Antonelli‘s fourth and fifth-place finishes at Interlagos had been sufficient to seal the groups’ title, only one week after the younger Italian claimed his maiden Drivers’ Championship in Mexico.
The achievement places Mercedes stage with Williams on 9 constructors’ titles, behind solely Ferrari‘s 16 and McLaren‘s 10, and provides one other chapter to a outstanding historical past that stretches again greater than seven a long time.
Their success started on monitor lengthy earlier than Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and the fashionable Mercedes workforce gained eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships although, that interval between 2014 and 2021 one of the vital dominant in F1 historical past…
The Silver Arrows’ early success
Mercedes’ historical past in Grand Prix racing dates again nicely earlier than the Formulation 1 World Championship was established in 1950, with the well-known Silver Arrows having fun with appreciable success throughout the Nineteen Thirties.
The German producer made its World Championship debut on the 1954 French Grand Prix, with Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling securing a one-two end of their first race behind the wheel of the Mercedes W196.
Fangio went on to win 4 races for Mercedes that season, securing his second Drivers’ Championship, earlier than returning in 1955 to say one other title alongside workforce mate Stirling Moss.
The next marketing campaign noticed Mercedes win 5 of the six World Championship Grands Prix wherein they competed, together with a well-known victory for Moss on the British Grand Prix – the primary of his 16 profession wins.
Nevertheless, Mercedes withdrew from motorsport on the finish of 1955 following a season overshadowed by the Le Mans catastrophe, wherein driver Pierre Levegh and greater than 80 spectators misplaced their lives. The choice introduced an early finish to the producer’s first interval of F1 success, with Mercedes having claimed two Drivers’ Championships in simply two seasons. The Constructors’ Championship wouldn’t be launched till 1958.
Mercedes ultimately returned to F1 as an engine provider throughout the Nineties, initially partnering with Sauber earlier than starting a profitable relationship with McLaren, the place drivers Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton would go on to win titles with Mercedes energy.
However it might take till 2010 for the producer to return to the grid as a full works workforce.
A brand new period of Mercedes dominance
After Brawn GP’s outstanding championship-winning marketing campaign in 2009, Mercedes bought the Brackley-based outfit and returned to Formulation 1 with seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg as their drivers.
The workforce’s early seasons introduced blended outcomes, though Rosberg secured Mercedes’ first victory as a works workforce since 1955 on the 2012 Chinese language Grand Prix.
The arrival of Hamilton in 2013 marked one other important second, with the Briton becoming a member of Rosberg as Mercedes ready for main modifications to Formulation 1’s technical rules.
When the turbo-hybrid period started in 2014, Mercedes emerged because the workforce to beat. Profitable 16 of the season’s 19 Grands Prix, Hamilton and Rosberg dominated the championship, with the previous claiming his second drivers’ title as Mercedes secured their first constructors’ crown.
It was the start of a unprecedented run.
They repeated the feat in 2015, as soon as once more successful 16 of 19 races, earlier than taking their dominance to a different stage in 2016, claiming 19 victories throughout 21 Grands Prix. That 12 months additionally introduced one of many sport’s most memorable intra-team rivalries, with Rosberg defeating Hamilton to safe his maiden World Championship earlier than saying his retirement simply days later.
Valtteri Bottas joined Mercedes for 2017, serving to the workforce proceed their successful streak alongside Hamilton, who added 4 consecutive drivers’ titles between 2017 and 2020.
Of their time collectively, Hamilton claimed six drivers’ titles, Rosberg added one other, and Mercedes established themselves as one of the vital profitable outfits the game had ever seen.
Even when Max Verstappen ended their run of drivers’ crowns in 2021, Mercedes maintained their benefit within the groups’ standings.
By the top of that 12 months, Mercedes had achieved one thing no different workforce in F1 historical past had managed – eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships.
However main regulation modifications in 2022 would convey an finish to their reign.
Returning to the highest in 2026
The introduction of latest ground-effect rules in 2022 proved difficult for Mercedes, who struggled to duplicate their earlier dominance.
Russell secured the workforce’s solely victory of that season in Sao Paulo, whereas 2023 marked their first winless marketing campaign since 2011. And while the Silver Arrows returned to successful methods in 2024, claiming 4 victories, they completed fourth within the standings.
The departure of Hamilton to Ferrari on the finish of that 12 months additionally marked the conclusion of essentially the most profitable driver-team partnership in Formulation 1 historical past, with the seven-time World Champion having secured 84 Grand Prix victories for Mercedes.
In his place got here the then 18-year-old Italian Antonelli, who partnered Russell for the 2025 marketing campaign. The workforce completed second within the standings that 12 months, setting the stage for an additional main alternative as the game ready to introduce new technical rules for 2026.
Simply as that they had performed in 2014, Mercedes capitalised on the modifications.
Russell opened the 2026 season with victory in Australia, earlier than Antonelli secured his maiden win in China and rapidly established himself as a championship contender.
By the point the paddock arrived in Brazil, Mercedes had claimed 12 Grand Prix victories from 19 Grands Prix, with Antonelli having already secured the Drivers’ Championship in Mexico.
Their ninth groups’ title adopted at Interlagos, finishing one other championship double and making Mercedes the third-most profitable constructor within the sport’s historical past, stage with Williams.
For Staff Principal Toto Wolff, who has overseen all 9 of Mercedes’ Constructors’ Championships – an achievement that sees him equal Sir Frank Williams’ document for essentially the most titles as a workforce boss – the win carries specific significance after 4 difficult seasons.
“We have taken a couple of years to be again on the highest spot. Not many groups have been capable of come again from such a scenario.
“And it simply exhibits that, you already know, the good work, the good those who we now have in our organisation. And it is implausible to be amongst them.”
Greater than 70 years after Fangio first tasted championship success with Mercedes, the Silver Arrows have as soon as once more established themselves on the summit of Formulation 1.
