Mercedes' era of dominance in under three minutes

Mercedes have launched their 2021 challenger which they hope will extend their era of dominance. Here’s Mercedes’ reign explained in under three minutes.Ln

Mercedes returned to the grid in 2010 when Daimler, Mercedes’ parent company bought a minority stake in the Brawn GP team, who the year before had won the World Championship with Jenson Button. An investment company bought a 30% stake and the team was subsequently rebranded Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team. Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher were brought in as their driver.

However, over the next three seasons performances didn’t quite live up to expectations. The pair led the team to a pair of fourth place finishes in the constructors’ championship and one P5 before Schumacher retired for a second time and Lewis Hamilton was welcomed in from McLaren.

In 2013 results picked up massively. Rosberg scored two wins finishing sixth in the Drivers’ Championship and whilst Hamilton only won a single race he finished in fourth.

2014 not only welcomed in a new era in the form of the turbo hybrid setup but it also began an era of unprecedented dominance. Mercedes won a remarkable 16 out of a possible 19 races, with Hamilton topping the chart on 11 occasions. The only other man to win a race was Daniel Ricciardo as Mercedes took a Driver’s and Constructors double.

2015 was more of the same, 16 races won between the pair, Vettel this time the only other man to beat them, as he won three times. They scored 703 points between them as Hamilton stormed to a third title, but tensions were simmering between the pair as they pushed each other to new limits.

If 2015 simmered, 2016 erupted. Hamilton and Rosberg clashed on numerous occasions, most famously in Spain where they wiped each other out on lap one and in Austria when they clashed on the last lap, gifting Hamilton the win. However, this time it was Rosberg who came through as Champion, holding off Hamilton’s late season resurgence, to win his first and only title, retiring after the season concluded.

Rosberg’s retirement left Mercedes scrambling for a new driver to partner Hamilton who had his eyes on more glory. Enter Valtteri Bottas. The Finn arrived from Williams, but in 2017 and 2018 the Ferrari of Seb Vettel was the Brit’s nearest challenger, with Bottas failing to win a single race in the ’18 season. At key stages in both years Vettel led the standings but in each there were turning points, switching momentum in Hamilton’s favour, think the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix or the 2018 German Grand Prix.

2019 saw Bottas 2.0 and although he took the lead of the championship thanks to wins in Australia and Azerbaijan Hamilton was relentless. The highlight in his sixth World Championship an emotional and brave victory in Monaco where he held off Max Verstappen for most of the race.

2020 was far from plain sailing off the track but for Mercedes, it was even more emphatic, they were comfortably the most superior force Hamilton winning on 11 occasions and Bottas two. Their dominance allowed Hamilton to seal a seventh Formula 1 World Championship in Turkey, pulling him level with the man he replaced at Mercedes, Michael Schumacher.

And that’s where we are now. After long drawn-out contract negotiations Hamilton signed a new deal and Mercedes have launched their 2021 challenger which Hamilton will be hoping will propel him to a record breaking eighth title and you’d be daft to bet against it!