Mercedes clinched yet another constructors’ title this year to make it five in a row in Formula One’s turbo hybrid era. JUANDRE JOUBERT looks at some astonishing numbers.
73 – The number of races they have won out of a possible 99
That is a 74% win rate for the Silver Arrows. In basic terms, it means that for every four races started in F1 since 2014, Mercedes have won three. Ferrari and Red Bull are the only other teams to have won races in this period (Ferrari 14, Red Bull 12).
19 – The number of races they won in the 2016 season
Mercedes dominated in 2016, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s slug-fest to the title seeing them break records left, right and centre. That season, they won 19 out of a possible 21, with Red Bull taking the other two.
10 – The number of race victories when they won the 2018 constructors’ title, their least since 2013
2018 has been Mercedes’ least-successful season since 2014. Even if Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas should win in Abu Dhabi, that will take the team’s total victories this year to 11, still one shy of their previous lowest figure of 12 from 2017.
And while you could read that as a decline in Mercedes’ potency from their 2014-2016 pomp, looked at another way, the team have shown resolve in the past two years in the face of improving opposition, taking both titles in both years, despite having had the edge taken off their dominance. And that kind of backs-to-the-wall resilience will probably prove more useful to Mercedes in the coming years, compared to the dearth of lessons you can learn when you’re cruising along with a car that can easily crush the opposition.
5,000 – The number of laps they have led, to become one of the great F1 teams
All of F1’s great teams belong to one particular club: the 5,000-plus laps led club. The members were Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Lotus. However, when Hamilton crossed the line to start lap 17 of the Brazilian Grand Prix, Mercedes became its newest member. The Silver Arrows are now sitting fifth on the list, with 5,030 laps led.
10 – The number of consecutive race victories in 2016
We’re back to 2016 now for another remarkable run of Mercedes dominance. From Monaco to Singapore that year, Hamilton (six) and Rosberg (four) combined to win 10 races in a row for the Silver Arrows. Mercedes are beaten in that list by McLaren only, who managed 11 victories on the trot in the 1988 season.
21 – The number of pole positions in 2016, a record for one season
If Mercedes were hogging the wins in 2016, they were hogging pole position to an even greater extent. They failed to take pole in only one of the 21 races. Nico Rosberg took pole eight times, while pole-meister Lewis Hamilton had the remaining 12, the 20 between the pair, an astonishing 95% pole strike rate.
83 – While we are talking about pole positions, Mercedes have 83 of them in the hybrid era, meaning the 73 victories give them an incredible 87% pole-to-win conversion rate since 2014.
765 – The number of points in 2016, the most in a single season
The 2016 season broke yet another record, with the Silver Arrows racking up a massive 765 points in the constructor’s championship. Unsurprisingly, they also occupy the next three spots on that list.
12 – The number of 1-2 finishes by a single team in a season
In 2015, Hamilton and Rosberg followed each other home on 12 occasions – the most one-two finishes in a single season.
Looking at the above numbers, there is no surprise why Mercedes have dominated as they have in the past five years. Teams like Red Bull and Ferrari are closing the gap, but it is not happening quick enough.
Will we see anything different next season? Or will the Silver Arrows continue breaking records left, right and centre?
Photo: @MercedesAMGF1/Twitter
