Mercedes-Benz, a German automotive brand of the Mercedes-Benz Group, has been involved in Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1954. The current Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, competing as Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, is based in Brackley, England, and holds a German racing licence. An announcement was made in December 2020 that Ineos planned to take a one third equal ownership stake alongside the Mercedes-Benz Group and Toto Wolff; this came into effect on 25 January 2022. Mercedes-branded teams are often referred to by the nickname, the "Silver Arrows" (German: Silberpfeile).
Before the Second World War, Mercedes-Benz competed in the European Championship, winning three titles. The marque debuted in Formula One in 1954. After winning their first race at the 1954 French Grand Prix, driver Juan Manuel Fangio won another three Grands Prix to win the 1954 Drivers' Championship and repeated this success in 1955. Despite winning two Drivers' Championships, Mercedes-Benz withdrew from motor racing after 1955 in response to the 1955 Le Mans disaster.
Mercedes returned to Formula One in 1994 as an engine manufacturer in association with Ilmor, a British independent high-performance autosport engineering company, which developed their engines. The company won one constructors' title and three drivers' titles in a works partnership with McLaren which lasted until 2009. In 2005, Ilmor was rebranded as Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains. In 2010, the company bought the Brawn GP team, rebranding it as Mercedes. Since a major rule shake-up in 2014, which required the use of turbochargers and hybrid electric engines, Mercedes has become one of the most successful teams in Formula One history, winning seven consecutive Drivers' titles from 2014 to 2020 and eight consecutive Constructors' titles from 2014 to 2021, both records. The manufacturer has also collected more than 200 wins as an engine supplier and is ranked second in Formula One history. Twelve Constructors' and fourteen Drivers' Championships have been won with Mercedes-Benz engines.
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Constructor
Grand Prix racing before Formula One (1930s)
Mercedes-Benz formerly competed in Grand Prix motor racing in the 1930s, when the Silver Arrows dominated the races alongside rivals Auto Union. Both teams were heavily funded by the Nazi regime, winning all European Grand Prix Championships after 1934, of which Rudolf Caracciola won three for Mercedes-Benz.
Daimler-Benz AG (1954–1955)
In 1954, Mercedes-Benz returned to what was now known as Formula One (a World Championship having been established in 1950) under the leadership of Alfred Neubauer, using the technologically advanced Mercedes-Benz W196. The car was run in both the conventional open-wheeled configuration and a streamlined form, which featured covered wheels and wider bodywork. Juan Manuel Fangio, the 1951 champion, transferred mid-season from Maserati to Mercedes-Benz for their debut at the French Grand Prix on 4 July 1954. The team had immediate success and recorded a 1–2 victory with Fangio and Karl Kling, as well as the fastest lap (Hans Herrmann). 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 again dominated the season, with Fangio taking four races, and his new teammate Stirling Moss winning the British Grand Prix. Fangio and Moss finished first and second in that year's championship. The 1955 disaster at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 11 June, which killed Mercedes-Benz sportscar driver Pierre Levegh and more than 80 spectators led to the cancellations of the French, German, Spanish, and Swiss Grands Prix. At the end of the season, the team withdrew from motor sport, including Formula One. During this first period of the team's participation in Formula One, Mercedes won 9 races in total, including three Grands Prix (the 1954 French Grand Prix, the 1954 Italian Grand Prix and the 1955 Italian Grand Prix) won by the streamlined "Type Monza", making them the only three races won by a closed-wheel car in Formula One history.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team (2010–present)
Before the start of the 2010 season Mercedes-Benz's parent company Daimler AG bought a minority stake (45.1%) in the Brawn GP team with Aabar Investments purchasing 30% on 16 November 2009. Following the purchase of the team, as well as a sponsorship deal with Petronas, the team was rebranded as Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, and Mercedes would now compete in the constructors' championship for the first time. Ross Brawn continued his duties as team principal and the team retained its base and workforce in the 60,000 m2 (650,000 sq ft) Brackley facility, close to the Mercedes-Benz Formula One engine plant (formerly Ilmor Engineering) in Brixworth.
The team has a complex history and its entry can be traced back to Tyrrell Racing, who competed as a constructor from 1970 until 1998, until being bought by British American Tobacco at the end of 1997 so its entry could be transferred to the then new constructor British American Racing (BAR) in 1999. BAR, who had formed a partnership with Honda, eventually became Honda Racing F1 Team in 2006 when British American Tobacco withdrew from the sport. It again changed hands in 2008, when Honda withdrew, and was purchased by the team's management, naming it Brawn GP after team principal Ross Brawn. Brawn used engines from Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines, and despite running on a low budget, Jenson Button won six of the first seven races and ultimately the 2009 Drivers' Championship, while Brawn won the Constructors' Championship. It was the first time in the sport's sixty-year history that a team won both titles in its maiden season.
Team Mercedes GP hired German drivers Nico Rosberg, and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, who returned to Formula One after a three-year absence, and Nick Heidfeld as the test and reserve driver. Of Brawn's 2009 drivers, Jenson Button signed for McLaren, whilst Rubens Barrichello moved to Rosberg's former seat with Williams team for 2010. With the acquisition of Brawn, the team ended its involvement with McLaren, parent company Daimler AG sold back the 40% shareholding in the McLaren Group, while continuing to supply engines to the team. The team's performance during 2010 was not so competitive as under Brawn, with the team behind the leading three teams of Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull. Their best results came from Rosberg finishing on the podium three times, scoring third places at Sepang, Shanghai, and Silverstone. Rosberg eventually finished in seventh place, but Schumacher had a disappointing return, being beaten by his teammate and finishing the season without a single race win, podium, pole position, or fastest lap for the first time since his début season in 1991. He also was involved in a controversy in Hungary after nearly squeezing former Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello into the wall at 180 mph (290 km/h). Ultimately, the team finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship, with 214 points.
Engine supplier
Mercedes-Benz returned to Formula One as an engine supplier in 1994 in partnership with Ilmor, a British independent high-performance autosport engineering company with its manufacturing centre based in Brixworth, Northamptonshire. After acquisition by Mercedes, the company is now called Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains. It supplied Sauber for one season, then switched to McLaren in 1995 for a highly successful 20-year partnership. In 2009, Mercedes also became suppliers of Brawn GP (later acquired to become the Mercedes-Benz factory team) and Force India, later known as Racing Point and eventually, Aston Martin F1, until the 2025 season. A fourth team was added to the supplying program in 2014, Williams. The 20-year long partnership with McLaren ended in advance of the 2015 season, before resuming in 2021. Mercedes supplied engines to the Lotus F1 Team for one season in 2015, and Manor for one season in 2016.
For the 2026 season, Mercedes supplies engines to Alpine, McLaren, and Williams, in addition to their own team.
Junior team
As of 2026, there have been twenty-two drivers linked to the Mercedes junior team, of which ten are still members.
Four of the graduates of the Mercedes junior team have driven in Formula One. Pascal Wehrlein was the first graduate to race in F1 from 2016 to 2017. As of 2026, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli are the only drivers to have driven for Mercedes, with the former having done so since 2022 and the latter starting in 2025. Esteban Ocon is the only other former driver to be participating in the 2026 season.
Sponsorships
In December 2009, the team suffered an early setback when it was discovered that a planned £80m sponsorship arrangement that had been signed by predecessor Brawn GP with Henkel in July was invalid. Henkel claimed they were unaware of the deal and had no interest in Formula One; the deal allegedly was made by a former Henkel employee on stolen company stationery for the purposes of defrauding the company. On 22 December, Henkel announced that the dispute with the team had been resolved with a mutual agreement and that legal action would not be pursued, although the team would work with the German prosecutor's office to clarify the matter.
On 21 December, the team confirmed that the number one Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas would join the team as title sponsor. Petronas was based in Kuala Lumpur where the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) is located. From 2010, the team competed under the full title of Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team. According to some reports, the arrangement is valued at €30m each year. On 28 September 2022, Mercedes and Petronas announced a multi-year renewal of the title and technical partnership from the 2026 season onwards.
On 25 January 2010, the team's livery was unveiled publicly at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, with Schumacher and Rosberg in attendance. The cars race in the traditional silver colours of Mercedes-Benz and retains Brawn GP sponsor MIGfx. In 2013, the team signed a multi-year deal with mobile company BlackBerry which ended after the 2015 season. The team also had other major partners such as Monster Energy, Puma, Swissquote (until 2014). Qualcomm, UBS, Epson, Bose & Hugo Boss were added as sponsors in 2015, while Wihuri joined Mercedes together with Bottas in 2017. Before the 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix, Mercedes added software company Tibco as one of their partners. In 2018, Tommy Hilfiger took over from Hugo Boss as the team's clothing supplier with Hamilton becoming a brand ambassador for the company and participating in the #WhatsYourDrive Promotion.
For 2019, the team made a global partnership with CrowdStrike and Marriott Bonvoy. For the 2020 Formula One World Championship, the team welcomed two new partners; Ineos and AMD. In 2021, the team signed a sponsorship deal with TeamViewer, a German technology company, which became the first partner of both Mercedes F1 and FE teams.
In 2025, Adidas took over from Tommy Hilfiger as the team's clothing supplier.
FTX sponsorship and lawsuit filing
The Mercedes F1 team had previously partnered with FTX, a Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange company. Mercedes suspended its sponsorship deal with FTX and removed the company's logos from their cars prior to the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix due to FTX's financial difficulties, with the cryptocurrency firm filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy soon after, thereby formally ending the sponsorship deal. The activities of FTX were subsequently revealed to have resulted in a multi-billion dollar fraud. A lawsuit against Mercedes F1 team for promoting FTX was filed to a federal court in Miami in November 2023.
Kingspan Group sponsorship controversy
On 1 December 2021, the team initially signed a sponsorship deal with the Kingspan Group. This announcement proved controversial due to Kingspan being under scrutiny in the Grenfell Tower inquiry, an inquiry about the 2017 Grenfell Tower Fire where 72 people lost their lives. The Mercedes-Kingspan Group deal led to criticism from Grenfell United (made up of survivors and families of victims of the Grenfell Tower fire) and then-UK government minister Michael Gove. Mercedes subsequently agreed to review its decision with Mercedes F1 team boss, Toto Wolff even offering to meet and listen to the Grenfell fire survivors. On 8 December 2021, it was announced the deal between Kingspan and Mercedes F1 Team had been terminated with immediate effect.
Racing record
Constructors' Championships winning percentage: 50%
Drivers' Championships winning percentage: 50%
Winning percentage: 39.8%
(Bold indicates championships won.)
* Season still in progress.
Drivers' Champions
The following drivers won the Formula One Drivers' Championship for Mercedes:
Juan Manuel Fangio (1954, 1955)
Lewis Hamilton (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
Nico Rosberg (2016)
Esports
The following drivers won the Formula One Esports Drivers' Championship for Mercedes:
Brendon Leigh (2018).
Jarno Opmeer (2021).
Complete F1 Esports Series results
(key (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)