Mercedes-Benz first participated in Formula 1 racing from 1954-1955 under the name Daimler-Benz AG using the car W196. After that they didn’t compete again till 2010. In the 2009 season they started to participate with the name Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team, now known as Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team. At present they have tie-ups with Sahara Force-India since 2009. They also had a tie-up with McLaren that existed from 2009-2014 after which McLaren shook hands with Honda.

1954-1955

The team had immediate success with Fangio and Karl Kling. They won the fastest lap as well. Fangio went on to win three more races in 1954, winning the championship. The success continued into the 1955 season, with Mercedes-Benz developing the W196 throughout the year. Mercedes-Benz dominated the season with Fangio and Stirling Moss, winning the British Grand Prix.

Fangio and Moss finished first and second in that year’s championship. Everything was going fine till the 1955 disaster at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 11 June, which killed Mercedes-Benz sportscar driver Pierre Levegh that led to the cancellations of the French, German, Spanish, and Swiss Grands Prix. At the end of the season they withdrew their team from all motorsports.

2010

Mercedes-Benz returned to Formula One for the 2010 season after buying a minority stake (45.1%) in the Brawn GP team with Aabar Investments purchasing 30% on 16 November 2009. They hired two German drivers Nico Rosberg and the great Michael Schumacher. The 7 times world champion returned to F1 after 3 years of absence. The team’s performance during 2010 was not so competitive. Their best results came from Rosberg finishing on the podium three times. The finished the season with 214 points securing the 4th position.

2011

Before the 2011 season begun, Daimler and Aabar purchased the remaining 24.9% stake owned by the team management in February 2011. The same team took part with Mercedes MGP W02, a racing car. None of the legends were able to show their extraordinary performance as they finished 4th with 165 points.

2012

This season they used Mercedes F1 W03. Notable results included, Nico Rosberg finishing first and second in China and Monaco Grand Prix and Schumacher finishing third in the European Grand Prix. They were involved into a technical controversy. Just before the Australian Grand Prix their competitors complained their rear wing use in the cars to be illegal. But finally, FIA’s technical delegate C.Whiting declared the system to be legal. They finished the season with 142 points securing the fifth position.

2013

This year their performance was much better. There was a change in the team as well. Lewis Hamilton left McLaren and signed a three years contract. He replaced Schumacher, partnering with Rosberg. The Mercedes F1 W04 was used this time in the race and it proved to be a huge success. They finished second with 360 points. The notable results are as follows:

• L.Hamilton: 1st in Hungarian Grand Prix, 3rd in Malaysian, Chinese, Canadian and Belgian Grand Prix
• N.Rosberg: 1st in Monaco and British Grand Prix, 2nd in Indian Grand Prix, 3rd in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

2014

The dream era for Mercedes started with a bang. They started using hybrid cars, Mercedes F1 W05 Hybrid. The result came out instantly. The season began with Rosberg winning the Australian Grand Prix by 27 seconds. The car was proved to be dominant because of an innovative design feature on the PU106A, the car’s engine. Lewis Hamilton described it as the best car he has ever driven. The team won all the races apart from Canadian, Belgian and Hungarian Grand Prix. They got the taste of being the Constructors’ Champion at the 16th race of the season with Hamilton winning the race and Rosberg comming second in the Russian Grand Prix.

Rosberg started the season with a win and Hamilton ended it by winning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The glorious stats of Mercedes was like a dream with sixteen wins (11 for Hamilton and 5 for Rosberg), eighteen poles (7 for Hamilton and 11 for Rosberg), twelve fastest laps (7 for Hamilton and 5 for Rosberg). They ended the season being the Constructors’ Champion with 701 points and Hamilton winning his first World Drivers’ Championship.

The notable performances are as follows:

• L.Hamilton: 1st in Malaysian, Bahrain, Chinese, Spanish, British, Italian, Singapore, Japanese, Russian, and United States Grand Prix, 2nd in Monaco, Austrian and Brazilian Grand Prix and 3rd in German and Hungarian Grand Prix.
• N.Rosberg: 1st in Australian, Monaco, Austrian, German and Brazilian Grand Prix and 2nd in Malaysian, Bahrain, Chinese, Spanish, Canadian, Belgian, Italian, Japanese, Russian, United States Grand Prix.

2015

The dream era continued with Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid. Experts described it to be the most dominant car in the sports’ history. There was a differences in design but Hamilton felt that to be similar to its previous season car. Some in-season developments were also made like introduction of new, square-shaped arches next to the front wing endplates as well as cuts near the rear wing endplates, aiming at a higher top speed during the Chinese Grand Prix. The team arrived in Spain with narrower sidepots, including a small air duct at the bottom to aid cooling or to influence aerodynamics at the diffuser. Before the Canadian event, the car received a larger radiator to improve the cooling of the power unit at the track.

This car holds the following F1 records:

• Most championship points in a season with highest percentage: 703 (86.04%)
• Most podiums in a season with highest percentage: 32 (84.21%)
• Most 1-2 finishes in a season with highest percentage: 12 (63.15%)
• Most front row lockouts in a season with highest percentage: 15 (78.94%)
• Most pole positions in a season with highest percentage: 18 (94.73%)
• Most number of wins in a season: 16 (along with Mercedes F1 W05 Hybrid)
• Most consecutive races with both cars on podium in a season: 9

The season started with Hamilton winning the Australian Grand Prix and Rosberg comming second. They won the podium in 9 consecutive races. Rosberg finished the season by winning the last 3 races, his first hattrick in his career. Again in the Russian Grand Prix, they won the Constructors’ Championship. This season also they won 16 out of 19 races. They had sixteen wins (10 for Hamilton and 6 for Rosberg), eighteen poles (10 for Hamilton and 8 for Rosberg), thirteen fastest laps (8 for Hamilton and 5 for Rosberg). This season also ended being the Constructors’ Champion with 703 points (breaking their own previous year record) and Hamilton winning the World Drivers’ Championship for the second time.

Notable performances are as follows:

• L.Hamilton: 1st in Australian, Bahrain, Chinese, Canadian, Belgian, British, Italian, Japanese, Russian, United States Grand Prix, 2nd in Malaysian, Spanish, Austrian, Mexican, Brazilian and Abu Dhabi and 3rd in Monaco Grand Prix.
• N.Rosberg: 1st in Spanish, Austrian, Mexican, Brazilian, Abu Dhabi and Monaco Grand Prix, 2nd in Australian, Chinese, Canadian, Belgian, British, Japanese, United States Grand Prix, 3rd in Malaysian, Bahrain Grand Prix.

2016

This season’s car is Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid with Rosberg winning the first four consecutive races, Australian, Bahrain, Chinese and the Russian Grand Prix. This is his career best starting of the season. They are on top of the table with 157 points right now. They are heading towards another constructor championship. Lets see who wins the World Drivers’ Championship title, Rosberg or Hamilton.

Mercedes cars not only run on the streets but also in the minds of the people. Mercedes has long built a brand which is synonymous with class. Years of tremendous hard work, optimized thinking and innovative creation made it what it is today.

90 years ago, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Dailmer founded the brand “Mercedes Benz” in Stuttgart, Germany. After the first world war, the economy was so badly affected that the idea of merging and building a partnership was considered something that overcome the climates obstacles. DMG and Benz & Cie., the then two biggest automobile manufacturers in the world, successfully merged in May 1924, and in 1926 “Mercedes-Benz” was born.

The Mercedes’ tri-star logo represents the company’s dominance over land, sea and air. According to the company, it represents the automaker’s drive toward universal motorization with its engines dominating the land, sea and air. The Mercedes-Benz emblem is a symbol for the company’s plan for world domination.

Cars that created history

Engines of Mercedes cars are of supreme quality. These top quality engines evolved with the evolution of different cars in every era since its first production. Model K was the first car produced, after the two companies merged. It was incredibly successful and production of Mercedes-Benz cars rose to 7,000 in 1927. Then came the S series with a variety of cars till 1929. In the 30s, the largest and most prestigious car ‘Mercedes-Benz W15’ made its debut, which helped Mercedes-Benz to become one of the leading brands in the automotive industry. The 260 D Model, was the world’s first diesel-run passenger vehicle. By the 40s, the company stopped the production of vehicles due to the Second World War and then resumed activities in 1946 with the 170 V. During the 50s, they topped the sales charts in Germany by introducing some of their best looking cars, like the 190 and 300 SL.

1960s was the decade of muscle cars. In 1967, they introduced Mercedes-AMG as a separate high-performance division of the Mercedes-Benz. The first car introduced by the division was the famous 300SEL 6.3 V8 Saloon, which was given the name ‘Red Sow’. During the 70s they produced some successful cars like SL and SLC 107 series of cars, the G-Class and S-Class series, which are still in production. In the 1980s they came out to be the first car manufacturing brand who took concern about environmental pollution. They introduced the closed-loop three-way catalytic convertor to reduce overall car pollution. In 1987, Mercedes-Benz introduced the 100 D 631 series and a year later the W201 Serie 2 made its debut, which was a compact executive car with a sports sedan body style. In the 90s, the company introduced the G-Class Wagons and SUVs and numerous new models like the E-Class, C-Class, and S-Class series.

A new era in mechanical supercharging technology was introduced in the 2000s. The numerous groundbreaking designs and engineering concepts, such as the BlueTec system was released in 2005 and had the capability of reducing CO2 emissions. Today, Mercedes-Benz along with its AMG high-performance division are one of the best and most popular car manufacturers that build luxury cars, trucks, coaches, and buses. Additionally, the company offers financial services and automobile repairs.

Quality and Innovation

Since its first production they were successful in making quality cars and finding out innovative ways to implement technlogy that came out to be the stepping stones for future generation cars. Some notable works introduced by them are as follows:

• Developed the first road car to have brakes on all the four wheels.
• In 1936, the Mercedes-Benz 260D was the first diesel powered passenger car.
• They were the first to offer direct fuel injection on Mercedes-Benz 300SL.
• In 1951 they were the first to develop the “safety cage”.
• Airbags were first introduced in the European market by them in 1981 with model S-Class.
• Mercedes-Benz was the first to introduce pre-tensioners to seat belts on the 1981 S-Class.
• In September 2003, they introduced the world’s first seven-speed automatic transmision.
• They are the first to develop, test and implement ESP, break assist and other types of safety equipments into passenger cars.
• In 1980s they developed the world’s first robot car along with the team of professor Dickmanns.

Mercedes-Benz’s Arena in sports


Mercedes-Benz is a sports enthusiastic brand. In football, Mercedes-Benz sponsors the German National Football Team. Mercedes-Benz sponsors Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart and provides the naming rights for their stadium, the Mercedes-Benz Arena. They are into racing for a long time. In the 1930s they participated in Grand Prix Motor racing. For the last few years they have dominated the F1 arena using drivers like Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

Identity and cooperation

Mercedes-Benz’s logo speaks volume about the brand even if the name is not there. Now they are moving ahead with the invention and implementation of new technologies not kown to us yet. They have been a great companion for years. So much of success and fame did’nt make them irresponsible. They have not made a large fuss about the safety innovations, and has even licensed them for use by competitors, in the name of improving automobile and passenger safety. As a result, crumple zones and anti-lock brakes (ABS) are now standard on all modern vehicles.