FORMULA ONE is a sport with many complexities. From different components that make up the cars, most with names and abbreviations, that let’s be honest, no one truly understands, to hundreds of regulations that teams and drivers need to adhere to.
Before we throw you in at the deep end, we are going to walk you through the different teams.
Let’s recap on who we’ve looked at first. Alpine, Aston Martin and Audi have all been covered.
We have also looked at Cadillac, Ferrari, Haas, and, most recently, McLaren. So next up is…
Mercedes
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, based in Brackley, UK, debuted a Formula One car in 1954 and 1955.
Jumping from Maserati halfway through the season, Juan Manuel Fangio managed to win the drivers’ championship with the German team in both 54 and 55.
However, after the 1955 Le Mans disaster that left Mercedes driver Pierre Levegh and 81 spectators dead, the team from Stuttgart pulled out of motorsport altogether.
Mercedes made its return as an engine manufacturer in 1994, then bought Brawn GP in 2010, rebranding to Mercedes, becoming a constructor for the first time in 55 years.
From 2014 to 2021, they completely dominated the sport, winning eight constructors’ and 9 drivers’ championships.
Ahead of this upcoming season, Mercedes looks set to be the fastest on the grid and the favourites to win the constructors.
Who makes up the Mercedes team?
The Team Principal is Toto Wolff
The Austrian has been the team principal, CEO and co-owner of Mercedes in F1 since 2013.
Before Mercedes, he bought a share of Williams in 2009 and became executive director in 2012.
Despite leaving Williams, Wolff kept shares in the team, eventually selling the rest off in 2016.
He is classed as one of the most successful and well-known team principals in the sport.
His job is to oversee all the technical, operational and personnel aspects to ensure the team is moving in the right direction.
Ultimately, he has final say over key strategic decisions and represents the team publicly in the media.
Like every F1 team, there are two drivers.
George Russell has been with Mercedes since 2017 as a part of their driver development programme.
The Brit made his Formula One debut in 2019, driving for Williams, a Mercedes power unit customer, after winning the Formula Two championship in 2018.
It was a difficult period for Russell at Williams because the car was incredibly slow.
He did, however, get his first points at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix whilst driving the Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton tested positive for COVID-19, meaning Russell got the promotion.
Leading the majority of the race from second on the grid, the German team messed up his first pit stop.
With the pit crew accidentally fitting Valtteri Bottas’s tyres on his car, he was forced to pit again.
Unfortunately, he then picked up a puncture whilst chasing race leader Sergio Perez.
Finishing 9th, he proved to Mercedes that he was ready to make the step up.
Williams declined to release Russell, so he was stuck with the team for one more season until 2022, coinciding with the regulation changes.
These changes hurt Mercedes and made them a lot less competitive as they had been for the past decade.
In his first season with Mercedes, he finished 4th in the drivers’ standings, outdoing Hamilton by 35 points.
2023 saw him finish 8th and 59 points behind his British counterpart.
In Hamilton’s last season at Mercedes, Russell finished 22 points ahead of his teammate; however, this only left him 6th in the championship.
With Hamilton joining Ferrari, Russell stepped up to become the number one driver.
He went on to win two races and picked up nine podiums, finishing 4th in the championship.
2026 could be a big year for the Brit as Mercedes looks strong.
As it stands, he is the favourite to become world champion this year.
Italian Kimi Antonelli is the second driver, making his debut in 2025, finishing 7th in his rookie season.
The 18-year-old picked up his first podium at Canada, second in Brazil and third at Las Vegas.
Their current test/reserve driver is Danish Frederik Vesti.
Mercedes constructor championship-winning seasons:
(2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021)
Drivers’ Championship Winners:
(Fangio 1954, 55. Hamilton 2014, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20. Nico Rosberg 2016)
With the new regulations now at play, these first few races could determine what direction the teams go in for the rest of the season.
Next up is Racing Bulls.
