Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team, the trading name of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Limited. They are the Formula One racing team and constructor (builder) of Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz debuted in Formula One in , and competed with great success in the and seasons. After the 1955 season, Mercedes left the sport. Despite part-ownerships, and engine supplier deals in the 1990s and 2000s, it did not return as a factory team until November 2009.
Mercedes has been giving engines to the McLaren team since . Mercedes-Benz, through its parent Daimler AG, and in partnership with Aabar Investments, reached an agreement to purchase the Brawn GP team. Daimler would buy 45.1% of Brawn, and Aabar would buy 30%. The purchase would be pending corporate and regulatory approval. The Brawn team was created when they purchased the Honda Racing F1 team. Brawn had won the drivers' and constructors' championships in the season, their first and only season as a team.
Former Williams driver Nico Rosberg was joined by seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher for the team's maiden racing season. Mercedes has Nick Heidfeld as the test and reserve driver. In August, Mercedes released Heidfeld from his contract to allow him to do tyre testing. He will test the new Pirelli tyre that will be used in the season. In September, Heidfeld was signed by Sauber to replace Pedro de la Rosa.
Early history
Mercedes in Grand Prix motor racing (1930s–1955)
Mercedes-Benz first competed in Grand Prix motor racing in the 1930s. The Silver Arrows cars by Mercedes-Benz and rivals Auto Union were the best racing cars. Both teams were heavily funded by the Nazi regime. They won all the European Grand Prix Championships after 1932. Rudolf Caracciola won three of the championships for Mercedes-Benz.
In 1954 Mercedes-Benz returned to racing in the current f1 series using the advanced Mercedes-Benz W196 (pictured). This car was run in both open-wheeled and streamlined (body work that covered the wheels) forms. Juan Manuel Fangio, a previous champion the season transferred mid-season from Maserati to Mercedes-Benz for their debut at the French Grand Prix on July 4, 1954. The team had immediate success with a 1-2 victory (taking both first and second place) with Fangio and Karl Kling. They also set the fastest lap of the race with (Hans Herrmann). Fangio went on to win three more races in 1954, and won the Formula One World Championship.
They continued to have success in the season, where the same car was used again. Mercedes dominated the season, with Fangio wining four races, and his new team mate Stirling Moss winning the British Grand Prix. Fangio and Moss finished first and second in 1955's World Championship. A terrible crash at the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 11 killed Mercedes driver Pierre Levegh and over 80 spectators. This crash led to the cancellations of the French, German, Spanish and Swiss Grands Prix that year. Mercedes-Benz withdrew from motor sport, including Formula One, at the end of the 1955 season.
The company made a return to the Formula One in by unofficially supplying the Sauber team with engines. The next year, the partnership was made official. For , Mercedes change teams and started supplying engines to the McLaren. Mercedes also purchased a small portion of the McLaren. McLaren won three drivers' championships and one constructors' championship between 1995 and . In 2009, Mercedes began supplying engines to the Brawn GP and Force India teams. In 2009, Brawn won both the driver's and constructors' championship.
Pre-Mercedes
The current Mercedes team can be traced back to the long-running Tyrrell Racing team. Tyrrell competed as a constructor from 1970 until 1998. In 1999, Tyrrell became British American Racing (BAR). BAR formed a partnership with Honda, and becoming Honda Racing F1 Team in 2006. In December 2008, Honda decided to leave Formula One racing, and Brawn GP, was formed from the Honda Team. Brawn's association with Mercedes began when the team opted to use the Mercedes FO 108W engine at the last minute. Mercedes needed special permission to supply engines to Brawn. The Formula One regulations at the time only allowed an engine supplier to supply two teams. Mercedes was already supplying engines to both McLaren and Force India.