Formula 1: The last time Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing didn’t win
By Asher Fair
Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing have combined to win every Formula 1 race for multiple seasons in a row. When was the last time another team claimed the top step of the podium?
Mercedes have dominated Formula 1 since the V6 turbo hybrid era began back in the 2014 season, winning the six driver championships and six constructor championships that have been decided since then and becoming the first team to win six consecutive titles in both categories.
But they haven’t been atop the podium after every race.
However, every time the Silver Arrows haven’t claimed victory, the wins have gone to one of two other teams: Red Bull Racing or Ferrari.
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When was the last time one of these three teams did not win a Formula 1 race?
With the 2020 season in limbo as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, let’s take a look back at something that hasn’t happened in several years and likely won’t happen in 2020 no matter how many races end up being contested.
The Australian Grand Prix was scheduled to kick off the 2020 season two weeks ago on Sunday, March 15, but that ended up not happening, and three other races were postponed (so far) as well.
Formula 1 postponements and cancellations: TRACKER
When, exactly, the 2020 season will get underway is still unknown as a result of just how unprecedented this situation is.
Next non-postponed/canceled Formula 1 race: TRACKER
The season is currently scheduled to get underway on Sunday, May 3 with the Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort, but that is obviously subject to change.
2020 Formula 1 schedule: TRACKER
The Australian Grand Prix is also the most recent race to feature a team other than the Brackley-based team, the Maranello-based team or the Milton Keynes-based team taking the checkered flag. It happened in the 2013 season, when a team that haven’t competed since 2015 claimed the win.
Lotus fielded entries for 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean in the 2013 season, and in the season-opening 58-lap race around the 16-turn, 3.296-mile (5.304-kilometer) Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit road course in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, it was Raikkonen who drove his Lotus E21 to the front after starting in seventh place.
Raikkonen led 27 of the race’s final 36 laps en route to claiming his 20th career victory in a race that featured 10 lead changes. In addition to the fact that no Formula 1 race has been won by a team other than Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing since then, no Formula 1 race has featured double-digit lead changes since then, either.
Raikkonen finished 12.451 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in second place. Alonso finished an additional 9.905 seconds ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel, who entered the season as the three-time reigning world champion.
The rest of the season was dominated by Red Bull Racing, and when they weren’t winning, Mercedes and Ferrari were. They secured 13 victories, all with eventual champion Vettel, while Mercedes secured three victories, two with Nico Rosberg and one with Lewis Hamilton, and Ferrari secured two, both with Alonso.
Since Raikkonen was victorious, 139 races have been contested. Non-Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing teams have finished on the podium from time to time, most recently with Pierre Gasly’s second place finish for Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) and Carlos Sainz Jr.’s third place finish for McLaren in the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the season.
But they have never won.
Of these 139 races, Mercedes have won 92. Red Bull Racing have won 28 of the other 47 while Ferrari have won the other 19. Mercedes have taken 102 of the 139 pole positions while Ferrari have taken 21 and Red Bull Racing have taken 15. Williams took the other with Felipe Massa back at the Red Bull Racing for the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix.
Ironically, the 2013 Australian Grand Prix also led into a lengthy win drought for Raikkonen, and Raikkonen didn’t even compete for Lotus past 2013.
He switched to Ferrari ahead of the 2014 season, and it took him until late in the 2018 season, his final season competing for the team, to break through and win. He ended a 113-race win drought by winning the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.
When will Formula 1 see a team other than Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing claim victory for the first time since Kimi Raikkonen delivered Lotus a win in the 2013 Australian Grand Prix?