Mercedes' Formula One team descends from Tyrrell, BAR, Honda and Brawn
The Silver Arrows that won eight constructors' titles in a row did not start as a Mercedes team at all. Their racing entry traces back through Brawn GP, Honda and British American Racing to Tyrrell, a constructor from 1970. Mercedes bought in only in late 2009, after Brawn's astonishing debut season.
Mercedes first entered Formula One in 1954 with the W196, sometimes raced with streamlined bodywork enclosing the wheels. Juan Manuel Fangio switched from Maserati mid-season, won on debut at the French Grand Prix with Karl Kling second, and took the title; he won again in 1955 with Stirling Moss runner-up. The streamlined version won three Grands Prix, still the only victories ever for a closed-wheel car in the sport. After a catastrophic crash at Le Mans in 1955 killed a Mercedes driver and more than 80 spectators, the company quit motor racing altogether.
It came back in 1994 as an engine maker working with Ilmor, winning titles with McLaren until 2009. Meanwhile the Tyrrell entry had passed to BAR, then to Honda, and in 2008 to its own managers, who named it Brawn GP after team principal Ross Brawn. With Mercedes power and little money, the team saw Jenson Button take victory in six of 2009's opening seven rounds, and Brawn became the first team in sixty years to take both championships in its opening season.
Daimler bought 45.1% of Brawn in November 2009 and ended its McLaren partnership. The rebranded team lured Michael Schumacher out of a three-year retirement, but his comeback yielded no wins, and his teammate Nico Rosberg outscored him. Rosberg's victory in China in 2012 was the works team's first win in 57 years and the first for a German driver in a German car since 1939. Lewis Hamilton arrived from McLaren for 2013, and Toto Wolff bought 30% of the team.
When hybrid turbo engines became compulsory in 2014, Mercedes ran away with the sport, winning seven straight drivers' titles to 2020 and eight constructors' crowns to 2021, both records. Based in Brackley, England, it has been owned in equal thirds by Mercedes-Benz, Wolff and Ineos since January 2022.
Source: Mercedes-Benz in Formula One
