An in-depth look at Formula 1 team, Mercedes GP – Part 1
Mercedes GP became a part of Formula 1 earlier on in 1954 during the turning point of the sport.
The sport was in the middle of a progression back then as some rules were being changed and the sport was becoming more technical with each passing year. Besides that, Formula 1 was becoming one of the most followed Motorsports as well due to these changes
and one has to admit that Mercedes played a major role in proving the worth of sport.
Mercedes introduced the legendary silver-arrowed cars to the sport in the 50s and signed a championship-winning driver like Juan Manuel Fangio who is considered as one of the best of the sport to date.
In 1954, the team secured the drivers’ title with the help of Fangio as the team scored 4 race wins, 7 podium positions and 4 pole positions. These results were quite impressive as this was the team’s debut season and back then, the team took part in just
6 races with 18 starts.
The 1955 Formula 1 season was even more dominant for the team as they scored 5 victories, 10 podium positions and 4 pole positions to secure yet another title for Juan Manuel Fangio.
Nevertheless, the team had to make an abrupt and tragic exit from Formula 1 after one of the team’s Le Mans car had a major accident during an event as a result of which, 84 spectators were killed.
This was one of the most tragic accidents in the history of Formula 1 but the team returned to Formula 1 once again in 1994 as engine suppliers with Sauber at first.
Mercedes became very well known as engine suppliers as they later on became one of the leading suppliers of the sport and helped teams like McLaren in securing titles after that.
In 2009 however, Ross Brawn decided to start his own team by the name of BrawnGP. Brawn was one of the most well known team principals in the sport and he played a major role in Ferrari’s success during its peak time from 2000-2004.
However, BrawnGP debuted in 2009 and straightaway secured both constructors’ and drivers’ championships which was quite amazing and reminded one of the same time when Mercedes did the same in 1954.
The team secured the championship with the help of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello but the following year, Mercedes bought the team and announced that they would proceed with the same administration and management.
However, the team had to change its drivers as Button and Barrichello left them as they were interested in other deals in the sport. Button joined McLaren alongside Lewis Hamilton while Barrichello joined Williams alongside a young new driver Nico Hulkenberg.
This was a major turning point for the team and now it seemed that they had a pretty good opportunity of proving itself once again with more consistent performance.
Since Red Bull Racing were also emerging after the 2009 Formula 1 season, making a name in the sport was not that easy for Mercedes GP but they had a couple of tricks up their sleeves and they proved that they did not become a part of the sport just to become
a mid-running team.
Continued in part 2…
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