Formula 1: Mercedes’ dominance by the numbers

By Kyle Funderburk | Apr 16, 2019

SHANGHAI, CHINA - APRIL 14: Race winner Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP and second placed finisher Valtteri Bottas of Finland and Mercedes GP celebrate on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on April 14, 2019 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images) /

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport have dominated Formula 1 since the 2014 season. All of the statistics during their reign are unbelievable.

Another Formula 1 Grand Prix, another victory for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. Five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix, which also happened to be the 1000th Grand Prix in Formula 1’s 70-year history.

The win on Formula 1’s milestone day was really just another win for Mercedes. Since the start of the V6 turbo hybrid era in the 2014 season, they have choked the life out of their competition.

Not only have they won five consecutive driver championships and five consecutive constructor championships they have won 77 of the 103 Grands Prix held during this span, which is nearly three-quarters (74.76%) of all of the races in a span of five-plus seasons.

That doesn’t even begin to describe how dominant they’ve been, however. In those 103 races, Mercedes have posted 42 1-2 finishes. Whether it’s been Hamilton with Valtteri Bottas or with Nico Rosberg, over these last few years, you can count on them crossing the finish line one after the other roughly once every two races. But the statistics get even more impressive.

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Of the 206 possible podium finishes that they could claim in these 103 races, Mercedes claimed 152. Only six races have been held since the 2014 season that did not result in a Mercedes driver finishing on the podium.

That’s the most mind-blowing statistic of all. One constructor has such a stranglehold on Formula 1 that it is far more likely that two of their drivers will finish on the podium than it is that three drivers representing three different constructors will do so.

How does Mercedes’ supremacy show up in the constructor standings? Their total margin of victory over the last five seasons in the standings is 1,098 points. Last season, Scuderia Ferrari were the closest that any team have come to stopping them, and Mercedes still won by 84 points. Their average margin of victory during these five seasons is 219.6 points.

The driver standings are the only area where Mercedes’ control over Formula 1 has seemed to wane. Last season, a pair of Ferrari drivers in Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen finished in the top three in second and third place, respectively, in the standings. Vettel was also the runner-up in the 2017 season. Prior to that, Mercedes recorded three-straight 1-2 finishes at the top of the standings.

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Formula 1 is certainly no stranger to dominant runs, but no team since Ferrari in the early 2000s have had this big of a stranglehold on the sport for this long. Before the reign of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, the 1990s featured seven different driver champions and four different constructor champions.

Even outside of Sebastian Vettel’s late-season win streaks in the 2012 and 2013 season, Red Bull Racing were the still best team during the German’s four-year championship streak, but you can’t call the success of him and the team domination, especially not compared to Mercedes’ ongoing run.

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