'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
For half a decade now, Mercedes have dominated the world of motorsports; they are five-time World Constructors Champions, and don't seem to be stopping any time soon. Who would've thought this would be possible in the 2000s or even the early 2010s?
What's amazing is the fact that Mercedes came back to the sport only in 2010, and in this short span of time they have understood the rules, regulations, the game and mastered it better than anyone else. They were up against it at the start, fighting against the legends of the sport in Mclaren, Ferrari, Williams and Red Bull, but every year they made a step towards the front of the field.
And when they reached the top, they decimated the competition.
The numbers tell the story. They are just the second team in history after Ferrari to win five consecutive titles. They are now fourth in the list of all-time constructors champions. If they win the title next year as well, they would match Scuderia Ferrari's record of six consecutive constructor championship victories.
It's just amazing how quickly Mercedes have risen up the rankings, and even more astonishing is the fact that the team looks too stable to stop winning now. They seem to have everything going for them.
Moving from Michael Schumacher to Lewis Hamilton, from Brawn to Wolff, Mercedes' transition has been seamless. The team resembles a well-oiled machinery where everyone knows what their role is and executes it to perfection.
It does make for an interesting read to recap how the Mercedes Juggernaut was set in motion. How it was conceived, what were the moves they made, how they got through various issues and then ultimately how it all came to fruition - every step was fascinating.
Here's a chronological look at how a team previously named Brawn GP under the tutelage of Ross Brawn grew to become the most potent team in Formula One.
Step #1: Acquiring Brawn GP
The timing seemed right. It was a super competitive team with all the facilities available, and a solid team management was already in place; all that it lacked was finances to run the team. If there ever was a right time for Mercedes to jump into F1, this was it.
They had won the 2009 championships, but looking at Brawn's financial condition, it seemed like they were going to wrap up pretty soon. Mercedes on their part saw the perfect opportunity and were able to benefit from not having to build everything from the ground up.
At the same time, they signed one of the most successful people in Formula One in Ross Brawn, and made him the team principal. By acquiring Brawn and giving him a free rein in running the team, Mercedes put the best man in place to do what he does best: build a championship winning team.
Step #2: Bringing together the Dream Team
With the team still in the very early stages of development, Brawn turned to his partner in crime with whom he had created a legendary partnership at Ferrari - probably the greatest driver of all time, Michael Schumacher.
Brawn persuaded Schumacher to come out of retirement, and they both went about working on the new project. A German legend driving a German car also helped with the sponsors, and Mercedes GP was finally on the grid with all the boxes ticked.
With Schumacher signed, Mercedes got hold of another German driver in Nico Rosberg to drive alongside him.
Schumacher, along with the driving duties, was pretty instrumental in setting up the operations and running of the team too (as it was revealed later). His inputs and feedback were said to have helped really propel the team forward.
Step #3: Hiring the right people
There were always these reports doing the rounds about Mercedes signing up big names one after the other. Aldo Costa, Niki Lauda, Bob Bell, Paddy Lowe and more recently James Allison, among many other names, have been part of the Mercedes unit during their journey.
What helped Mercedes was its ability to pick the right people that fit the puzzle. For instance, Lauda's stint with Jaguar had been nothing short of a disaster, and Aldo Costa although a reputed name was an ex Ferrari employee who was reportedly fired from the team.
What Mercedes was able to do better than their previous employers was give them the environment to express themselves. To their credit, both Lauda and Costa have been instrumental in their own way; Aldo is credited with building the gold standard car of F1 while Lauda was the guy who lured Lewis Hamilton away from McLaren.
Step #4: Attacking the 2014 regulations much earlier than the competition
If there is one guy who is a master at deciphering rule changes, then it has to be Ross Brawn. He did that with the double diffuser in the Honda/Brawn GP and when he was given the job to take Mercedes to the top in F1, he again went about it in a precise and eerily similar manner.
The regulations for the 2014 season were set in stone by 2011, and it was during that time that Brawn assigned resources to work on the car for the 2014 season. While Merc's competitors, be it Ferrari, Mclaren or Red Bull, were busy working on cars for the respective seasons, Brawn had already earmarked Geoff Willis and Aldo Costa to work on the car for the new regulations.
What it did was give Mercedes a huge head start compared to the rest of the grid. The result was a car which was, at times, a second a lap faster than its closest challenger.
Step #5: Lewis Hamilton
51 race wins, 4 titles, innumerable poles and podiums later, nobody can question Lewis Hamilton's decision to move from a front-runner in Mclaren to a midfield Mercedes.
Is it a marriage made in heaven? No. Is everything perfect all the time? No. But what Mercedes does best is make a bloody fast car and what Hamilton does is drive it faster than anyone else.
It could be argued that some of the initial titles had more of a Mercedes stamp on them than a Hamilton one, but nobody can deny that the 2018 Championship was a case of Hamilton rising to the challenge and driving at a level even he has never driven before.
Somewhere though you would still have to give Mercedes the credit for going after Hamilton at a time when even he was slightly disgruntled about losing to Sebastian Vettel day in and day out. It was a perfect case of being at the right place at the right time, and it really has worked wonders for both.
