2019 F1 Mercedes Team – Drivers, Stats, and Engine

The Mercedes racing team in Formula One is owned by German car-maker Mercedes-Benz through its subsidiary Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited and under the constructor name Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motosport.

It traces its racing history in the pre-war European Championship where it won three titles. In 1954, Mercedes-Benz debuted in Formula One, winning their maiden race at the 1954 French Grand Prix. Mercedes driver Juan Manuel Fangio won the Drivers championship in 1954 and 1955 but despite their success, the team withdrew from motor racing after the 1955 Le Mans Disaster and didn’t return to the scene until 1994, as an engine supplier.

Mercedes returned to Formula One racing only in 2010 after purchasing Brawn GP. After a quiet first two years where they finished 4th in the Constructors championship, Nico Rosberg gave Mercedes its first win in 57 years at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix. The following season, Lewis Hamilton transferred to Mercedes and the rest they say is history.

Hamilton would win the Drivers championship in 2014 and Mercedes the Constructors title. The team finished the year 296 points ahead of their closest rival. In total, Mercedes had 18 poles, 16 wins and 11 one-two finishes in 19 races. For their 16 wins, their average winning margin was 23.2 seconds ahead of non-Mercedes foes.

Success continued in the second year of the V6 engine era as Mercedes and Hamilton repeated a champions. Rosberg topped Hamilton in 2016 but the Briton came back to win again in 2017 and 2018. As for Mercedes, they have won five consecutive Constructors championships.

Drivers

Mercedes’ lead driver is none other than  Lewis Hamilton. The 34-year old from Stevenage, England is a man who needs no introduction really. Hamilton is considered one of the best drivers of his generation and one of the greatest in the sport of Formula One. He is a five-time Formula One world champion driver, having won the title in 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018. Hamilton is the all-time record holder for most career points (3,086), most poles (84), most grand slams in a season (3) and most wins at different circuits (26).

In his first Formula One season, Hamilton set several records as well as finishing second in the Drivers Championship standings, just one point behind Kimi Raikkonen. The following year, Hamilton won his first Drivers championship and won so dramatically. The Briton clinched the title on the last corner of the last lap of the last race of the season to become the then-youngest driver to win the world championship.

Since his transfer from McLaren to Mercedes, his start has only shone brighter as he’s won back to back Drivers championships on two separate occasions including during the previous two years. Last year, Hamilton was as dominant as ever as he won eight out of the last 11 Grand Prix races for his fifth Drivers championship win while setting the record for most points earned in a season( 408) and for being the first driver to eclipse the 3,000 point mark.

Last year, Mercedes won the Constructors championship for the 5th straight season as Lewis Hamilton also won his second straight Drivers championship and his fifth overall. For the 4th consecutive Formula One season, Hamilton will be paired with Finland’s Valtteri Bottas.

Born in Natola, Finland, the 29-year old Bottas began his racing career in Karting before moving to Formula Renault racing. In 2008, Bottas won the Formula Renault Eurocup and the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC. He moved up to the Formula Three series in 2009 and would go on to win the GP3 series in 2011.

Bottas made his Formula 1 debut as Pastor Maldonado’s teammate at Williams-Renault during the 2013 season. He scored his first points after finishing 8th in the United States Grand Prix, allowing him to finish ahead of Maldonado in the Drivers standings. In his second season, he would finish 4th in the Drivers’ standings and ahead of the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.

In 2017, Bottas moved to Mercedes after Nico Rosberg’s retirement and immediately found success. He earned his first pole at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix and then he notched the first Grand Prix win at the 2017 Russian Grand Prix. Bottas would add two more wins in Austria and Abu Dhabi to cap off his best year ever in F1 racing. He would take the bronze in the Drivers championship with 305 points, finishing behind Hamilton and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. 2018 would be a year of struggles as the Finn finished the season without a single victory.

Seeking redemption, Bottas aimed to start 2019 on a high not. He ran the fastest lap at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix and won the race, his fourth Grand Prix race. He  would finish second and behind teammate Hamilton in the next two races as Mercedes is off to a fast start in the 2019 F1 season.

Engines

Mercedes returned as Formula One engine supplier in 1994 in partnership with British independent high-performance autosport engineering company Ilmor, whom it later purchased and renamed as Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains. It supplied engines to Sauber for one year, then to McLaren for a highly successful 20 year partnership. They also became engine suppliers for Brawn GP (which would later become the Mercedes team) and also Williams in 2014. Mercedes is ranked 4th all-time with over 100 wins as engine supplier. A total of six Constructors titles and 10 Drivers championships have been won using Mercedes engines.

This season, Mercedes uses the Mercedes AMG F1 W10 EQ Power+ racing cars for world champion Hamilton and his partner Bottas. The car is the 10th Formula One race car constructed by Mercedes since 2010 and it made it debut at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix. So far, the Mercedes AMG F1 W10  EQ Power + has won all three races in the 2019 F1 season with Hamilton at the helm in the last two and Bottas with the first ever win.

The car is powered by a 1.6L  V6 turbocharged engine, limited to 15,000 RPM, in a mid-mounted, rear-wheel drive layout. Its electric motors are MGU-K and MGU-H and has a semi-automatic seamless shift sequential gearbox transmission which was co-developed with Xtrac. It has a power of 950-1000 horsepower and uses Mercedes lithium ion solution batteries.

Stats

After three races so far in the 2019 Formula One season, the Mercedes drivers are on top of the standings. Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have gone 1-2, either way, in all of the three completed races so far as the Silver Arrows have dominated the early stages of the season.

Hamilton is on top of the Drivers standings with a total of 68 points. After finishing second in the first race of the season in Australia, the reigning world champion has won back to back races in Bahrain and Shanghai and is favored to win a  third straight Grand Prix in Azerbaijan this weekend. Hamilton has been the F1 betting favorite in all of the races so far this season. In his illustrious career, Hamilton has won a total 75 races, 137 podiums, 84 pole positions and 41 Fastest laps.

On the other hand,Valtteri Bottas is also off to a fast start as the Finn won the Australian Grand Prix to start the season and finished second to his superstar teammate in the next two races. Bottas is #2 in the Drivers standings with 62 total points accumulated. For his career, Bottas has a total of four races won, 33 podiums, 7 pole positions and 11 fastest laps. At the 2019 Australian Grand Prix, Bottas posted the fastest lap before winning the race.

As of April 18, 2019 at Bovada, Hamilton is the favorite to win his third straight Drivers championship. The Brit is currently pegged at -164  while his teammate Botas is at +500, tied with Hamilton’s chief rival and Ferrari ace Sebastian Vettel.