Mercedes GP
Encyclopedia
Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, the trading name of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited, is a British-based Formula One
racing team and constructor, owned by Mercedes-Benz
and racing under a German licence since the 2010 season
.
As Brawn, the team won the drivers' and constructors' championships in the 2009 season
, their only season as a team following their buy-out of the Honda Racing F1 team.
Former Williams
driver Nico Rosberg
was joined by seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher
for the team's first racing season under Mercedes-Benz ownership, and both have retained their seats for the 2011 season. Nick Heidfeld
was originally the test and reserve driver, but he left the team in August 2010 to take up a similar role at Pirelli
prior to moving into a race seat for Renault F1
.
with drivers like Rudolf Caracciola
, Manfred von Brauchitsch
, Hermann Lang
and Richard Seaman
, Mercedes-Benz returned to what was now known as Formula One racing – a World championship having been established in 1950 – in 1954 using the technologically advanced Mercedes-Benz W196 which was run first as a streamlined, closed-wheel car. The team was managed by Mercedes's pre-War race team boss Alfred Neubauer
, and World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio
, who had transferred mid-season from Maserati to Mercedes-Benz for their delayed debut at the at Reims
on 4 July 1954. The team had immediate success and recorded a 1–2 victory with Fangio and Karl Kling, with Hans Herrmann
setting the fastest lap. The open-wheeled version was produced at Fangio and Kling's insistence after Mercedes' defeat at the at Silverstone
, and it debuted at the at the Nürburgring
, where Fangio also won. Fangio went on to win two more races in 1954, winning the Championship.
The success continued into the 1955 season, where the same car was used again, except for some work on the car done by designer Rudolf Uhlenhaut
and his team of engineers. The team's drivers, Fangio and the young Stirling Moss
, won six of the nine rounds between them, and finished first and second in that year's championship. Of the twelve Grands Prix Mercedes competed in, they won nine, with Fangio winning eight and with Moss taking a victory – his first – at the at Aintree
.
The current team can be traced back to the long-running Tyrrell Racing team, who competed as a constructor from 1970 until 1998. Tyrrell became British American Racing in 1999 who formed a partnership with Honda
, eventually becoming Honda Racing F1 Team in 2006.
Brawn
Brawn GP, was formed from the remains of the Honda Racing F1 Team after Honda's withdrawal in December 2008. The team was purchased by the team's management and re-branded as Brawn GP
. The team won its first race at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix
, with Jenson Button
winning six of their first seven races and ultimately going on to win the 2009 World Championship
while team-mate Rubens Barrichello
claimed victory in Valencia
and Italy
. Both Button and Brawn went on to seal the Drivers' and Constructors' World Championships in the penultimate race in Brazil
. It was the first time in the sport's sixty-year history that a team won both titles in its maiden season.
Mercedes Benz
The team's association with Mercedes
began when Brawn opted to use the Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines
FO 108W at the last minute. Mercedes had required special provisions to supply Brawn as the regulations at the time dictated that an engine supplier could only supply two teams, and Mercedes supplied engines to both McLaren
and Force India
.
On 16 November 2009, it was officially confirmed that Mercedes would take over the running of Brawn, with Ross Brawn
continuing his duties as team principal. The team will continue to use its base in Brackley
, United Kingdom, which is fewer than 30 miles away from Mercedes' Formula One engine plant in Brixworth
.
Nico Rosberg
was announced as the team's first driver on 23 November 2009 and on 23 December 2009, seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher
announced that he will be returning to Formula 1, this time with the Mercedes team. Of Brawn's 2009 drivers, Jenson Button
signed for McLaren
, whilst Rubens Barrichello
moved to the Williams
team for 2010, resulting in Mercedes selecting a new driver line-up of Michael Schumacher
and Nico Rosberg
. The acquisition of Brawn meant that Mercedes parted ways with McLaren
. The 40% stake that Daimler (which owns Mercedes) has in McLaren since January 2000 will be sold back to the McLaren Group
for a reported £500m. One reason for Mercedes parting ways with McLaren was "because of McLaren's ambitious plans to build road cars", as McLaren plan to put the McLaren MP4-12C
in production by 2011. However Mercedes said it would continue to supply engines to McLaren until 2015.
Mercedes-Benz debuted in Formula One in , and competed with great success in the 1954 and seasons. However, after the 1955 season, Mercedes left the sport, and despite part-ownerships, and engine supplier deals in the 1990s and 2000s, it did not return as a factory team until November 2009. After a fifteen-year relationship with the McLaren
team, Mercedes-Benz (through parent Daimler AG), in partnership with Aabar Investments, reached an agreement to purchase a 75.1% stake (Daimler: 45.1%; Aabar: 30%), in the Brawn GP
team, pending corporate and regulatory approval. Daimler and Aabar purchased the remaining 24.9% stake owned by team management in February 2011.
for the title of 'best of the rest' behind the leading three teams of Ferrari
, McLaren
and Red Bull
. Rosberg impressed, finishing on the podium three times, at Sepang
, Shanghai
and Silverstone
. However, Schumacher's return proved to be a massive disappointment, as he finished the season without a single race win, podium, pole position or fastest lap for the first time since his début season in 1991
, and also scoring the worst-ever finish of his F1 career at Valencia
, where he finished fifteenth. Schumacher also found himself embroiled in yet more controversy in Hungary
after nearly squeezing former Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello
into the wall at 180 mph (80 m/s), and at the last race in Abu Dhabi
he was involved in a collision with Vitantonio Liuzzi
, with Liuzzi's Force India coming within inches of his head, after Rosberg overtook him which caused him to go wide on the second part of the chicane and spun. It is debatable that Rosberg collided with Schumacher, however it was purely a racing incident.
Ultimately, the team finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship, with 214 points.
, Schumacher and Rosberg both retired due to accident damage on laps 19 and 22 respectively. In Malaysia
, Rosberg qualified ninth and Schumacher again failed to make Q3, qualifying eleventh. Schumacher scored Mercedes' first points of the season with a ninth place finish, whereas Rosberg had a quiet race and finished twelfth. In China
, Rosberg and Schumacher showed strong form, with Rosberg finishing fifth as well as leading fourteen laps during the race, while Schumacher ended the race in eighth place. Rosberg added another fifth place in Turkey
, while in Spain
, Schumacher finished in sixth place, ahead of Rosberg.
After a pointless , Schumacher equalled his best finish for Mercedes in Canada
, finishing fourth after running as high as second. In Valencia
, Rosberg finished seventh, and Schumacher 17th, after contact with Vitaly Petrov
. Rosberg and Schumacher both finished in the points at the following two races in Great Britain
and Germany
. Gearbox issues stopped Schumacher from scoring at the , but Rosberg managed to finish in ninth place. At the , Schumacher moved from the back of the grid – after losing a wheel in qualifying – to finish fifth, while Rosberg finished sixth, having led the race in its early stages.
with Henkel
in July was invalid. Henkel claim they were unaware of the deal and have no interest in Formula One; the deal was allegedly 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, though the team would work with the German Prosecutor's Office to clarify the matter.
On 21 December, the team confirmed that Malaysian oil supplier Petronas
would join the team as title sponsor. From 2010 the team will compete under the full title of Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team. According to some reports, the arrangement is valued at €30m each year. Combined with the €50m the team receives for winning the 2009 championship as Brawn GP, and television revenue, Mercedes has a budget in excess of €80m without actually having dedicated anything to the budget themselves.
On 25 January 2010, the team's livery was publicly unveiled at the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart, with Schumacher and Rosberg in attendance. The car races in Mercedes' traditional silver colours and retains Brawn GP sponsor MIGfx and adds investment group Aabar to its roster of sponsors.
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
racing team and constructor, owned by Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
and racing under a German licence since the 2010 season
2010 Formula One season
The 2010 Formula One season was the 61st Formula One season of World Championship motor racing competition. Red Bull Racing won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a one-two finish in Brazil, while Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel won the Drivers' Championship after winning the final race...
.
As Brawn, the team won the drivers' and constructors' championships in the 2009 season
2009 Formula One season
The 2009 Formula One season was the 60th FIA Formula One World Championship season. The season took place over 17 rounds, and started with the on 29 March 2009. It ended on 1 November 2009 with the inaugural ....
, their only season as a team following their buy-out of the Honda Racing F1 team.
Former Williams
WilliamsF1
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head...
driver Nico Rosberg
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career...
was joined by seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time...
for the team's first racing season under Mercedes-Benz ownership, and both have retained their seats for the 2011 season. Nick Heidfeld
Nick Heidfeld
Nick Lars Heidfeld is a German racing driver.Despite scoring regular podium finishes in and , Heidfeld has yet to win a race since entering Formula One in . This means that amongst the current drivers, he has had the most GP starts without standing at the top spot on the podium...
was originally the test and reserve driver, but he left the team in August 2010 to take up a similar role at Pirelli
Pirelli
Pirelli & C. SpA is a diverse multinational company based in Milan, Italy. The company, the world’s fifth largest tyre manufacturer, is present in over 160 countries, has 20 manufacturing sites around the world and a network of around 10,000 distributors and retailers.Founded in Milan in 1872,...
prior to moving into a race seat for Renault F1
Renault F1
Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...
.
1954–1955
After Mercedes' success in Grand Prix racing before World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
with drivers like Rudolf Caracciola
Rudolf Caracciola
Otto Wilhelm Rudolf Caracciola , more commonly Rudolf Caracciola , was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One World Championship, an unsurpassed three times...
, Manfred von Brauchitsch
Manfred von Brauchitsch
Manfred Georg Rudolf von Brauchitsch was a German auto racing driver who drove for Mercedes-Benz in the famous "Silver Arrows" of Grand Prix motor racing in the 1930s....
, Hermann Lang
Hermann Lang
Hermann Lang was a German champion race car driver.Born in the Bad Cannstatt district of Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, at age fourteen Hermann Lang had to go to work to help support his family following the death of his father...
and Richard Seaman
Richard Seaman
Richard John Beattie "Dick" Seaman , was one of the greatest pre-war Grand Prix drivers from Britain....
, Mercedes-Benz returned to what was now known as Formula One racing – a World championship having been established in 1950 – in 1954 using the technologically advanced Mercedes-Benz W196 which was run first as a streamlined, closed-wheel car. The team was managed by Mercedes's pre-War race team boss Alfred Neubauer
Alfred Neubauer
Alfred Neubauer was the racing manager of the Mercedes Grand Prix team from 1926 to 1955.-Biography:...
, and World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio , nicknamed El Chueco or El Maestro , was a racing car driver from Argentina, who dominated the first decade of Formula One racing...
, who had transferred mid-season from Maserati to Mercedes-Benz for their delayed debut at the at Reims
Reims-Gueux
Reims-Gueux was a triangular motor racing road course near Reims, France, which hosted 14 French Grands Prix.Reims-Gueux was first established in 1926 on the public roads between the small French villages of Thillois and Gueux. The circuit had two very long straights between the towns, and teams...
on 4 July 1954. The team had immediate success and recorded a 1–2 victory with Fangio and Karl Kling, with Hans Herrmann
Hans Herrmann
Hans Herrmann is a former Formula One and Sports car racing driver from Stuttgart, Germany.In F1, he participated in 19 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on August 2, 1953...
setting the fastest lap. The open-wheeled version was produced at Fangio and Kling's insistence after Mercedes' defeat at the at Silverstone
Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone Circuit is an English motor racing circuit next to the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. The circuit straddles the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border, with the current main circuit entry on the Buckinghamshire side...
, and it debuted at the at the Nürburgring
Nürburgring
The Nürburgring is a motorsport complex around the village of Nürburg, Germany. It features a modern Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer old North loop track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. It is located about...
, where Fangio also won. Fangio went on to win two more races in 1954, winning the Championship.
The success continued into the 1955 season, where the same car was used again, except for some work on the car done by designer Rudolf Uhlenhaut
Rudolf Uhlenhaut
Rudolf Uhlenhaut , was an Anglo-German engineer and executive for Mercedes-Benz...
and his team of engineers. The team's drivers, Fangio and the young Stirling Moss
Stirling Moss
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, OBE FIE is a former racing driver from England...
, won six of the nine rounds between them, and finished first and second in that year's championship. Of the twelve Grands Prix Mercedes competed in, they won nine, with Fangio winning eight and with Moss taking a victory – his first – at the at Aintree
Aintree Motor Racing Circuit
Aintree Motor Racing Circuit is a 3-mile motor racing circuit in the village of Aintree, Merseyside, England. The circuit is located within the famous Aintree Racecourse and used the same grandstands as horse racing...
.
Origins
Tyrrell – BAR – HondaThe current team can be traced back to the long-running Tyrrell Racing team, who competed as a constructor from 1970 until 1998. Tyrrell became British American Racing in 1999 who formed a partnership with Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
, eventually becoming Honda Racing F1 Team in 2006.
Brawn
Brawn GP, was formed from the remains of the Honda Racing F1 Team after Honda's withdrawal in December 2008. The team was purchased by the team's management and re-branded as Brawn GP
Brawn GP
Brawn GP Formula One Team, the trading name of Brawn GP Limited, was a Formula One motor racing team and constructor, created by a management buyout of Honda Racing F1 Team. It only competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team...
. The team won its first race at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix
2009 Australian Grand Prix
The 2009 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 29 March 2009 at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia. It was the first race of the 2009 Formula One season. The race, contested over 58 laps, was won by Jenson Button for the Brawn GP team after...
, with Jenson Button
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British...
winning six of their first seven races and ultimately going on to win the 2009 World Championship
2009 Formula One season
The 2009 Formula One season was the 60th FIA Formula One World Championship season. The season took place over 17 rounds, and started with the on 29 March 2009. It ended on 1 November 2009 with the inaugural ....
while team-mate Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable...
claimed victory in Valencia
2009 European Grand Prix
The 2009 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race, held on August 23, 2009 at the Valencia Street Circuit in Valencia, Spain. It was the 11th race of the 2009 Formula One season. The race was contested over 57 laps, an overall race distance of 303.9 km...
and Italy
2009 Italian Grand Prix
The 2009 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on September 13, 2009 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy. It was the 13th race of the 2009 Formula One season. It was contested over 53 laps.The race was won by Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello...
. Both Button and Brawn went on to seal the Drivers' and Constructors' World Championships in the penultimate race in Brazil
2009 Brazilian Grand Prix
The 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race which was held on October 18, 2009 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo, Brazil. It was the sixteenth race of the 2009 Formula One season...
. It was the first time in the sport's sixty-year history that a team won both titles in its maiden season.
Mercedes Benz
The team's association with Mercedes
Mercedes-Benz in motorsport
Throughout its long history, Mercedes-Benz has been involved in a range of motorsport activities, including sportscar racing and rallying, and is currently active in Formula Three, DTM and Formula One.-Early history:...
began when Brawn opted to use the Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines
Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines
Mercedes-Benz HighPerformanceEngines Ltd. is a British Formula One engine manufacturer, owned by Mercedes-Benz. Since 1995, their engines have powered McLaren's Formula One cars. For the 2009 season, Mercedes-Benz also supplied the Brawn GP and Force India teams with engines...
FO 108W at the last minute. Mercedes had required special provisions to supply Brawn as the regulations at the time dictated that an engine supplier could only supply two teams, and Mercedes supplied engines to both McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
and Force India
Force India
Sahara Force India Formula One Team, the trading name of Force India Formula One Team Limited, is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom which currently holds an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and...
.
On 16 November 2009, it was officially confirmed that Mercedes would take over the running of Brawn, with Ross Brawn
Ross Brawn
Ross James Brawn OBE is an English motorsport engineer and Formula One team principal. He has worked for a number of Formula One teams, serving as the technical director of the championship-winning Benetton and Ferrari teams. He took a sabbatical from the sport in 2007 but returned to F1 for the...
continuing his duties as team principal. The team will continue to use its base in Brackley
Brackley
Brackley is a town in south Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Oxford and miles form Northampton. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the intersecting trade routes between London, Birmingham and the English Midlands and between Cambridge and Oxford...
, United Kingdom, which is fewer than 30 miles away from Mercedes' Formula One engine plant in Brixworth
Brixworth
Brixworth is a village and civil parish in the Daventry district of Northamptonshire, England. The 2001 census recorded a parish population of 5,162. The village is particularly notable for All Saints' Church, Brixworth, its historic Anglo-Saxon church....
.
Nico Rosberg
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career...
was announced as the team's first driver on 23 November 2009 and on 23 December 2009, seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time...
announced that he will be returning to Formula 1, this time with the Mercedes team. Of Brawn's 2009 drivers, Jenson Button
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British Formula One driver currently signed to McLaren. He was the 2009 World Drivers' Champion.Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British...
signed for McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
, whilst Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable...
moved to the Williams
WilliamsF1
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, trading as AT&T Williams, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and run by Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head...
team for 2010, resulting in Mercedes selecting a new driver line-up of Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes GP team. Famous for his eleven-year spell with Ferrari, Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as the greatest F1 driver of all time...
and Nico Rosberg
Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career...
. The acquisition of Brawn meant that Mercedes parted ways with McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
. The 40% stake that Daimler (which owns Mercedes) has in McLaren since January 2000 will be sold back to the McLaren Group
McLaren Group
The McLaren Group, based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England, is a group of companies created by Ron Dennis, described by the International Herald Tribune as "a small conglomerate"...
for a reported £500m. One reason for Mercedes parting ways with McLaren was "because of McLaren's ambitious plans to build road cars", as McLaren plan to put the McLaren MP4-12C
McLaren MP4-12C
The McLaren MP4-12C is a sports car designed and manufactured by McLaren Automotive. It is the first production car wholly designed and built by McLaren since the McLaren F1. The car's final design was unveiled on 8 September 2009, and it is set to be launched in 2011...
in production by 2011. However Mercedes said it would continue to supply engines to McLaren until 2015.
Mercedes-Benz debuted in Formula One in , and competed with great success in the 1954 and seasons. However, after the 1955 season, Mercedes left the sport, and despite part-ownerships, and engine supplier deals in the 1990s and 2000s, it did not return as a factory team until November 2009. After a fifteen-year relationship with the McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
team, Mercedes-Benz (through parent Daimler AG), in partnership with Aabar Investments, reached an agreement to purchase a 75.1% stake (Daimler: 45.1%; Aabar: 30%), in the Brawn GP
Brawn GP
Brawn GP Formula One Team, the trading name of Brawn GP Limited, was a Formula One motor racing team and constructor, created by a management buyout of Honda Racing F1 Team. It only competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team...
team, pending corporate and regulatory approval. Daimler and Aabar purchased the remaining 24.9% stake owned by team management in February 2011.
2010 season
The team's achievements in their first season did not come close to those of Brawn the previous year, with the Mercedes battling RenaultRenault F1
Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...
for the title of 'best of the rest' behind the leading three teams of Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
, McLaren
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited, trading as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, is a British Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed and won in the Indianapolis 500 and Canadian-American Challenge Cup...
and Red Bull
Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the...
. Rosberg impressed, finishing on the podium three times, at Sepang
2010 Malaysian Grand Prix
The 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix was the third round in the 2010 Formula One season. It was held in Sepang, Malaysia on April 4, 2010....
, Shanghai
2010 Chinese Grand Prix
The 2010 Chinese Grand Prix was the fourth round in the 2010 Formula One season. It was held in Shanghai, China on April 18, 2010.The race was won by Jenson Button ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton....
and Silverstone
2010 British Grand Prix
The 2010 British Grand Prix was the tenth race of the 2010 Formula One season. On 7 December 2009, it was confirmed that the race would take place at Silverstone for the next seventeen years after the failure of Donington Park to raise the necessary funds to hold the race...
. However, Schumacher's return proved to be a massive disappointment, as he finished the season without a single race win, podium, pole position or fastest lap for the first time since his début season in 1991
1991 Formula One season
The 1991 Formula One season was the 42nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1991 FIA Formula One World Championship, which commenced on March 10, 1991 and ended on November 3 after sixteen races...
, and also scoring the worst-ever finish of his F1 career at Valencia
2010 European Grand Prix
The 2010 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on the June 27, 2010 at the Valencia Street Circuit in Valencia, Spain. The race, contested over 57 laps, was the ninth round of the 2010 Formula One season. It was won by Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing, who led every lap of the...
, where he finished fifteenth. Schumacher also found himself embroiled in yet more controversy in Hungary
2010 Hungarian Grand Prix
The 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix was the twelfth round of the 2010 Formula One season. It was held in Hungaroring, Hungary on August 1, 2010...
after nearly squeezing former Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Barrichello
Rubens Gonçalves "Rubinho" Barrichello is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver. He is currently racing for Williams F1.Barrichello has scored the seventh highest points total in Formula One history. Barrichello drove for Ferrari from to , as Michael Schumacher's teammate, enjoying considerable...
into the wall at 180 mph (80 m/s), and at the last race in Abu Dhabi
2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 14 November 2010 at the Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island, an island on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. It was the 19th and last round of the 2010 Formula One season...
he was involved in a collision with Vitantonio Liuzzi
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Vitantonio "Tonio" Liuzzi is an Italian race driver who is currently racing in Formula One for the HRT F1 Team. He has homes in Lugano, Switzerland and Pescara, Italy.-Karting:...
, with Liuzzi's Force India coming within inches of his head, after Rosberg overtook him which caused him to go wide on the second part of the chicane and spun. It is debatable that Rosberg collided with Schumacher, however it was purely a racing incident.
Ultimately, the team finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship, with 214 points.
2011 season
In Australia2011 Australian Grand Prix
The 2011 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 27 March 2011 at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne. It was the 76th race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix that dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928...
, Schumacher and Rosberg both retired due to accident damage on laps 19 and 22 respectively. In Malaysia
2011 Malaysian Grand Prix
The 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 10 April 2011 at the Sepang International Circuit in Selangor, Malaysia. It was the second round of the 2011 Formula One season. The race, contested over 56 laps, was won by Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel after starting from...
, Rosberg qualified ninth and Schumacher again failed to make Q3, qualifying eleventh. Schumacher scored Mercedes' first points of the season with a ninth place finish, whereas Rosberg had a quiet race and finished twelfth. In China
2011 Chinese Grand Prix
The 2011 Chinese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 17 April 2011 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. It was the third round of the 2011 Formula One season...
, Rosberg and Schumacher showed strong form, with Rosberg finishing fifth as well as leading fourteen laps during the race, while Schumacher ended the race in eighth place. Rosberg added another fifth place in Turkey
2011 Turkish Grand Prix
The 2011 Turkish Grand Prix, formally the 2011 Formula 1 DHL Turkish Grand Prix, was a Formula One motor race held on 8 May 2011 at Istanbul Park in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the fourth round of the 2011 Formula One season. The race, contested over 58 laps, was won by the championship leader,...
, while in Spain
2011 Spanish Grand Prix
The 2011 Spanish Grand Prix, formally the Formula 1 Gran Premio de España Santander 2011, was a Formula One motor race that was held on 22 May 2011 at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain. It was the fifth round of the 2011 Formula One season...
, Schumacher finished in sixth place, ahead of Rosberg.
After a pointless , Schumacher equalled his best finish for Mercedes in Canada
2011 Canadian Grand Prix
The 2011 Canadian Grand Prix, formally the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2011, was the seventh round of the 2011 Formula One season and was held on 12 June 2011 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve...
, finishing fourth after running as high as second. In Valencia
2011 European Grand Prix
The 2011 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Valencia Street Circuit in Valencia, Spain on 26 June 2011. The race, which was the eighth round of the 2011 Formula One season, was won by defending world drivers' champion and championship leader Sebastian Vettel, who was...
, Rosberg finished seventh, and Schumacher 17th, after contact with Vitaly Petrov
Vitaly Petrov
Vitaly Alexandrovich Petrov is a Russian Formula One racing driver, currently driving for the Lotus Renault GP team. He is known as "Vyborg Rocket" in Russia. He is, to date, the only Russian to have competed in the Formula One World Championship....
. Rosberg and Schumacher both finished in the points at the following two races in Great Britain
2011 British Grand Prix
The 2011 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race, held on 10 July 2011, at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, England, and won by Fernando Alonso....
and Germany
2011 German Grand Prix
The 2011 German Grand Prix, formally the Formula 1 Großer Preis Santander von Deutschland 2011, was a Formula One motor race that was held on 24 July 2011, at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany. It was the tenth round of the 2011 Formula One season. The race, contested over 60 laps, was won...
. Gearbox issues stopped Schumacher from scoring at the , but Rosberg managed to finish in ninth place. At the , Schumacher moved from the back of the grid – after losing a wheel in qualifying – to finish fifth, while Rosberg finished sixth, having led the race in its early stages.
Sponsorship
In December 2009, the team suffered an early setback when it was discovered that a planned £80m sponsorship arrangement that had been signed by BrawnBrawn GP
Brawn GP Formula One Team, the trading name of Brawn GP Limited, was a Formula One motor racing team and constructor, created by a management buyout of Honda Racing F1 Team. It only competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team...
with Henkel
Henkel
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA is an multinational company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany.The company operates in three business areas: Home Care , Personal Care ,...
in July was invalid. Henkel claim they were unaware of the deal and have no interest in Formula One; the deal was allegedly 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, though the team would work with the German Prosecutor's Office to clarify the matter.
On 21 December, the team confirmed that Malaysian oil supplier Petronas
Petronas
PETRONAS, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company that was founded on August 17, 1974. Wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested with the entire oil and gas resources in Malaysia and is entrusted with the responsibility of developing and...
would join the team as title sponsor. From 2010 the team will compete under the full title of Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team. According to some reports, the arrangement is valued at €30m each year. Combined with the €50m the team receives for winning the 2009 championship as Brawn GP, and television revenue, Mercedes has a budget in excess of €80m without actually having dedicated anything to the budget themselves.
On 25 January 2010, the team's livery was publicly unveiled at the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart, with Schumacher and Rosberg in attendance. The car races in Mercedes' traditional silver colours and retains Brawn GP sponsor MIGfx and adds investment group Aabar to its roster of sponsors.