Current Mercedes

Mercedes GP

FIA Entry: Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team
Car 7: Michael Schumacher
Car 8: Nico Rosberg
Engine: Mercedes V8
Team Principal: Ross Brawn
Technical Director: Bob Bell
Race Engineer Car 7: Mark Slade
Race Engineer Car 8: Tony Ross

Stats as of end 2010

First Entered 2010
Races Entered 19
Race Wins 0
Pole Positions 0
Fastest Laps 0
Driver World Championships 0
Constructor World Championships 0

Team History

The Mercedes team history splits into two parts. In 1954 the famous pre-war Silver Arrows entered the F1 world championship and recorded a 1-2 at their first race. Fangio went on to win the drivers championship that year and again in 1955. Mercedes withdrew at the end of the 1955 season after the accident which killed 80 spectators at Le Mans which involved one of their cars.

The current team entered F1 in 2010 after Mercedes bought Brawn Grand Prix. Brawn Grand Prix, winners of the Drivers Championship, with Jenson Button, and the constructor’s championship in 2009, grew out of the ashes of Honda’s F1 entry after Honda had withdrawn from F1 at the end of the 2008 season after only a single Grand Prix win for Button in Hungary 2006.

Prior to the Honda takeover in 2006 the team had raced under the name of British America racing which had acquired the assets and race entry of the Tyrrell F1 team in 1999. BAR competed in 118 races without a single victory. The high points for the team were 2 pole positions (both for Button – San Marino 2004 and Canada 2005) and 2nd in the constructors championship in 2004.

Tyrrell were amongst the most successful private F1 teams taking part in 463 Grands Prix, scoring 33 victories and 3 Drivers Championships, all with Jackie Stewart.

2010

Having replaced Button and Barrichello with Nico Rosberg and 7 times WDC Michael Schumacher many expected great things of the new Mercedes team in 2010 but they had an indifferent season.

Rosberg managed 3 podiums for the team but Schumacher, coming back from retirement, struggled with the new cars, tyres and limited testing under the revised regulations. The team finished 4th in the Constructors Championship.

2011

For 2011 Mercedes retain the same driver line up and are hoping for better things from their MGP W02 chassis.

 

[siffert_fan]

The problem is that you can never be sure that what ever the manufacturers claim is the actual total. Auto companies have myriad ways to hide costs, so the totals quoted may well be far below the actual number.

 

[Bill Boddy]

The problem is that you can never be sure that what ever the manufacturers claim is the actual total. Auto companies have myriad ways to hide costs, so the totals quoted may well be far below the actual number.

Which is precisely why a spending cap will not work.

 

[Galahad]

The spend is based on the value to them of being champions, the focus is always wrongly placed on the cost side.

If you want to reduce spend, massively reduce the sport's commercial appeal to fans and sponsors...

 

[cider_and_toast]

If you want to reduce spend, massively reduce the sport's commercial appeal to fans and sponsors..

Something they've been working on achieving for a few years now.

 

[Galahad]

Well, quite. I'll be surprised if Merc are still in F1 in five years' time.

 

[siffert_fan]

I'll be surprised if F1 still exists in five years.

 

[The Artist.....]

If you want to reduce spend, massively reduce the sport's commercial appeal to fans and sponsors...

This is why sometimes markets need external (government) intervention. Left to their own devices, F1 teams will escalate spending until such a point as marginal benefit is equal to marginal cost.

For teams like Williams, McLaren, Force India, et al, the benefit of success comes through prize money and sponsorship (which is correlated with success). However, for the manufacturers, the external benefits are perceived to be huge; Mercedes gain huge marketing gain from success in F1. Ferrari also.

Renault are slightly more odd, as they don't thrown money at the project (largely because their marginal benefit is lower than Mercedes or Ferrari...

 

[siffert_fan]

The problem is that, with the constantly escalating costs, the non-manufacturer teams cannot hope to compete. Therefore, tv exposure is lessened, results are ever-harder to come by, and so both prize money and sponsorship are harder to come by. Look at what McLaren and Williams are going through now. Add to that the fact that television coverage is becoming ever more pay-per-view so viewership drops, so potential sponsors see less of a "bang for the buck" for their advertising dollars. It is a vicious circle and cannot bode well for the long-term survival of the lesser teams or the sport, IMO.

 

[The Artist.....]

There needs to be a budget cap of £50 million, policed by forensic accountants.

Engines can be omitted from this, but the cost to customer teams should be regulated at £10million per season ( outside of the budget cap). Driver salaries also sit outside the budget cap.

The FIA should consider looking at the number of employees each team has; probably they should cap these at about 300 as well. (I.e., the size of the privateer teams).

 

[vanphuccity]

When Ray's around you need to pick your words specifically, it's a hard job, yet to see anyone achieve it!

 

[RasputinLives]

It appears Wolff and Merc are in full on BS mode in the media again in order to keep viewing figures up and make sure people watch their two hour car advert.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/wolff-2019-rules-could-shake-up-the-grid/

They only wheel out the 'anything could happen/we're not the most dominant team/blah blah looks like they are going to jump in front of us' rhetoric when they are clean out of front and there is no competition going on.

 

[siffert_fan]

They only wheel out the 'anything could happen/we're not the most dominant team/blah blah looks like they are going to jump in front of us' rhetoric when they are clean out of front and there is no competition going on.

Which has been the case since the start of the current formula.

 

[F1Brits_90]

Just seen this in the celebrations back at the factory. & who on earth is celebrating such a fantastic achievement with a piece of fruit. If anyone did they need help. Because surely a worker not thinking ive just contributed to history only 2nd time in F1 history that 1 team has won drivers title 5 years in a row matching schumacher & ferrari. Ill go mad, let myself go & have a banana

 

[gethinceri]

Wouldn’t have happened at Mclaren in Ron’s day. No apostrophe.

 

[F1Brits_90]

This is a tough joke from the cameraman on bottas. "so guys where do you think bottas will finish in drivers title race, in a double championship winning car"

 

[The Artist.....]

This is a tough joke from the cameraman on bottas. "so guys where do you think bottas will finish in drivers title race, in a double championship winning car"

View attachment 12226

There are several thoughts I had when I first saw that picture:

1. Where did they steal their big three pointed stars - was a big merc lorry parked outside
2. God those front wings are ugly
3. You’d have thought they’d have put new tyres on the cars for a publicity photo! Pirelli must be fuming!

 

[Il_leone]

You know this could have been the Honda team

 

[RasputinLives]

They still have the same company registration number as Tyrrell so it goes back even further than that.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives At least Tyrell reached the summit as a team whereas Honda flushed money down the toilet with an Earth car that horribly slow

 

[F1Brits_90]

As you know love the on the grid podcast. Listened to nico rosberg one today. They were talking about relationships & how ocon, gasly were close friends. But barely talk. How you cant be friends with anyone in F1 as stakes are so high. Of course the topic is on to lewis & nico. Something that surprised me, i always thought that bahrain 2014 (pics below) were was fantastic example of sportsmanship. Throwing the kitchen sink at each other but such respect at the end

But no according to nico, there was no respect if anything it was the start of the feud bahrain 2014, he never really explained rather incoherinally mumbled something & quickly moved on