The Silver Arrows are back on top. Mercedes have claimed their ninth Constructors' Championship in Formula 1, wrapping up the crown at the 2026 Sao Paulo Grand Prix and returning to the summit of the sport for the first time in five years. Fourth and fifth-place finishes at Interlagos from George Russell and Kimi Antonelli did the job, arriving just one week after the young Italian secured his maiden Drivers' Championship in Mexico. That puts Mercedes level with Williams on nine constructors' titles, sitting behind only Ferrari and McLaren in the history books.
It is another remarkable chapter for a manufacturer whose Grand Prix roots stretch back more than seven decades. Long before the modern era, the famous Silver Arrows dominated the 1930s. Their World Championship debut came at the 1954 French Grand Prix, where Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling drove the Mercedes W196 to a stunning one-two finish. Fangio took four wins and the title that year, followed by another crown in 1955 alongside Stirling Moss. But tragedy struck later that season at Le Mans, where driver Pierre Levegh and more than 80 spectators lost their lives, leading Mercedes to withdraw from motorsport and bringing an early halt to their initial two-year run of success.
And it just shows that, you know, the great work, the great people that we have in our organisation. And it's fantastic to be among them.
Decades later, the German manufacturer returned to F1 as an engine supplier in the 1990s, partnering with Sauber before a hugely successful stint with McLaren that yielded titles for Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton. It was not until 2010 that they returned as a full works team, purchasing the Brackley-based outfit that had won with Brawn GP in 2009 and pairing seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher with Nico Rosberg. Rosberg gave the works team their first win since 1955 at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix, before Hamilton arrived in 2013 ahead of the seismic shift to turbo-hybrid regulations.
When those rules hit in 2014, Mercedes completely changed the sport. Winning 16 of 19 races, Hamilton took his second drivers' crown while the team secured their first constructors' title. They repeated the 16-win feat in 2015, then took 19 victories out of 21 grands prix in 2016 during an intense intra-team battle where Rosberg defeated Hamilton to the championship before immediately retiring. Valtteri Bottas stepped in for 2017, partnering Hamilton through four more consecutive drivers' titles between 2017 and 2020. By the time Max Verstappen ended their streak of driver titles in 2021, Mercedes had etched an unprecedented record of eight consecutive Constructors' Championships into history.
The ground-effect regulations introduced in 2022 brought an abrupt end to that dominance. Mercedes struggled, taking just a single victory that year in Sao Paulo courtesy of Russell, before enduring their first winless campaign since 2011 in 2023. Four wins followed in 2024, but they managed only fourth in the standings. That year also saw the end of the most successful driver-team partnership in F1 history as Hamilton departed for Ferrari after claiming 84 grand prix victories for the Silver Arrows. In stepped the then 18-year-old Italian Antonelli to partner Russell for 2025, lifting the team to second in the standings and setting the stage for 2026's new technical regulations.
Just as they did in 2014, Mercedes nailed the rule changes. Russell opened the year with victory in Australia, and Antonelli claimed his maiden win in China on his way to the drivers' crown. By Brazil, the team had secured 12 victories from 19 grands prix, sealing the championship double at Interlagos. For Team Principal Toto Wolff, who has overseen all nine constructors' crowns and equaled Sir Frank Williams' record for titles as a team boss, the triumph means everything after four hard years.
"We've taken a few years to be back on the top spot. Not many teams have been able to come back from such a situation," Wolff said. "And it just shows that, you know, the great work, the great people that we have in our organisation. And it's fantastic to be among them."
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