Mercedes AMG Petronas Racing: the marvelous story of reigning constructor's champions

Mercedes took the constructors’ championship at the Japanese Grand Prix

The double impact of constructor's champions Mercedes

Clearly the most successful team at the moment in the tectonic and highly competitive world of Formula One racing is the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team. No matter what driver you are and which team you are racing for, it is nothing short of clinching an ultimate glory to defeat a Mercedes car in an F1 race.

And this isn't the first time this has happened.

In 2014, just a year back where Mercedes picked up their first constructor's championship signaling an end to Infinity Red Bull Renault's era of domination, they have literally owned the Formula One World Championship.

Clipping Red Bull's wings

In 2014, the inaugural year of the introduction of the hybrid engines that signalled the end of the era of the powerful V8s, it really has been Mercedes' era; an era that has left other teams competing mostly for second or third place glories. Mercedes have produced a car that is both spectacular in its speed and handling but most importantly effective in all racing conditions, whether dry or wet.

It is 2015 now and there are only 4 races to go, but the constructors crown has already found the stable and princely head of the Brackley-based outfit.

In what has again been a season of unparalleled Mercedes domination, they have left their rivals – the closest being Ferrari and Williams – with very little to celebrate.

Clearly the car to beat

With a superior car and unquestionably two of the finest drivers on the grid at the moment, England's Lewis Hamilton and Germany's Nico Rosberg, Mercedes remain the team to beat in a fest of titanic battles.

Mercedes' current engine, the fantastic PU 106 Hybrid, is clearly several notches above those of Ferrari, Williams and Red Bull. In an era where hybrid engines were rumored to make for lesser compelling race results, Mercedes have downed the hopes and expectations of their cynics, roaring with thunderous triumph thanks to the massively successful engine that has powered many victories snatched by the dynamic Hamilton-Rosberg pair.

Incessant domination - a 2014 repeat

From dominating in Bahrain at Sakhir under extremely hot conditions, they have literally owned the racing fests at the Victorian charms of Melbourne at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the topsy-turvy challenge of Hungaroring (Hungary), the princely circuit of Monte Carlo (Monaco), the spectacular Spa-Francorchamps at Belgium, the Czarist circuit of Sochi, the Cathedral of Speed at Monza and the breathtakingly beautiful track at Austria.

But that isn't all.

Mercedes have reigned supreme even at Shanghai, triumphed as the raging bulls at Catalunya at Spain, shown their might at the challenge of Canada, showed their mettle in front of the nobility of home race Silverstone and dominated at the supremely imposing Suzuka in Japan, where Hamilton overtook his idol Ayrton Senna's tally of race wins.

While only Ferrari have managed to edge out their arch-rivals in an exciting 2015 season that has largely belonged to the English team, others such as Williams, Red Bull Racing, Sauber and Sahara Force India have been completely steamrolled in a competition that Mercedes have made a literal slugfest thanks to a string of superior performances.

Hamilton-Rosberg: F1's most contentious pairing since Senna-Prost

Childhood friends, teammates turned quasi-foes – Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have some bitterness between them

The car and its drivers have to complement each other in a way that none expect to overturn if one fancies a chance of winning. Showing what it takes to win in a grand racing fest of the quality and importance of Formula One, Mercedes have produced a car that is undoubtedly superior over its rivals.

But its success cannot and must not be accorded only to its better performing engine that boosts the mojo of the F1 WO6 Hybrid, the car that has yet again won glory in 2015.

It is the clever and decisively successful pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg that has ultimately powered Mercedes to where it always aspired to be since his former glory days of the 1950s – right at the top of the constructor's table.

The Mercedes drawing board boasts of racing stalwarts, astute thinkers and illustrious engineers who have riddled their rivals in the garages of the Prancing Horse and Red Bull by putting together a car that isn't just championship winning, but a piece of art.

Parading with high speed on testing circuits that often make racing a daunting task, the Mercedes F1W06 belonging to Briton Lewis Hamilton, who is now all set to clinch his third driver's title (the first in 2008, second in 2014, also with Mercedes) and German Nico Rosberg eagerly catching up Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel - have dominated the proceedings of 2015 season in magnanimous fashion.

Between Hamilton's ability to constantly increase his tally of race wins even as he is occasionally challenged by Vettel or teammate and once good friend Nico, it is Rosberg's fighting abilities that have helped Mercedes to put up a stellar show wherever they compete.

Critics lament Rosberg's lack of fight in front of a superior Hamilton, but truth be told, it is the German's impressive form (despite his scrambling at races such as Silverstone, Hungary and Monza) that has helped teammate Hamilton extract the maximum from his talent, pushing both to the limit and Mercedes ahead of their competitors.

The relationship between the pair has been written about extensively in the media, with their relationship allegedly currently fraught, although Hamilton acknowledged and credited Rosberg for his performances this year following Mercedes’ championship win.

How they stack up against their rivals

Stalwarts of the competition such as Fernando Alonso, driving for McLaren and powered by a lackluster Honda engine, have stood no chance of taking on the fight to Mercedes while the likes of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, teammates at Williams Martini Racing which is also powered by Mercedes.

While the likes of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen came achingly close to outpacing Hamilton at the Sakhir circuit earlier this year, only four-time World Champion Vettel has managed to do the unthinkable: overpower the Mercedes duo at Malaysia, Hungary and Singapore.

Vettel did win on 3 counts as compared to 2015 constructor winners Mercedes who have won on 12 counts – winning didn't come that easy for the German driver.

Clinching their second successive constructors’ championship crown has certainly helped the confidence of the racing team and done a world of good to Hamilton’s form and to Rosberg's hopes to aim for a redemptive shot at the driver's title in the upcoming year; 2016 could be the last competitive season for the likes of Raikkonen, Button and possibly even Alonso.

Men who are champions in their own right, such as Mercedes' Team Principal Toto Wolff, who has helped the team evolve and find its groove whilst has had the able support of none other than that of Niki Lauda, the team's Non-Executive Chairman and one of the sharpest racing minds in the F1 world.

Akin to the fashion of Rosberg and Hamilton speeding up on race tracks, the Wolff-Lauda pair has pulled some decisive aces from the team's drawing board.

Powering other drivers in F1

The relationship between Hamilton and Mercedes is nothing less than that between an artist and his favourite muse with Hamilton painting on Mercedes' canvas a long list of victories with great verve. But the 2014 championship winner isn't the only driver whose craft Mercedes have helped refine.

They have lifted the game of many great racing drivers such as the legendary Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, the original "Flying Finn" Mika Hakkinen, a driver of immense courage and the only near perfect rival to the shining brilliance of Michael Schumacher, whose second stint, although not nearly half as successful as his former glorious reign, was at home team Mercedes' lair.

A rich vein of racing history

Being at war is not new for team Mercedes, who even competed in pre-war European championship where they won not one but three titles. Their association with Formula One dates back 6 decades.

They first debuted in F1 in 1954, where their first ever victory came at the 1954 French Grand Prix. The 61-lap contest was held at Reims one of the most grueling racing competitions of the bygone era and it featured an all-time legend, Fangio.

He won their first ever race from German Karl Kling and ultimately helped the team clinch their maiden championship title, going on to win 3 more races the same year. He would repeat his thumping victory in 1955 by clinching the title for the second time in a row. Back then, he was the boss on track and Mercedes the roaring winners.

Bouncing back from a tragic pull out from F1

But right at the peak of their enthralling domination in a contest of supreme skills, a sad event happened that pushed Mercedes away from the coveted world of Formula one.

Just as things were going all smooth for the English team driving under a German license, a disaster came calling in 1955.

At Pays de la Loire at Le Mans, France, a massive incident took place at the circuit which would mar both team and sport. French driver Pierre Levegh, driving for team Mercedes, was involved in a horrific crash that killed him and over 80 spectators who had gathered from around the world to witness the spectacular 1955 Le Mans 24 hours automobile race.

Racing a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, during the third hour of racing – just the initial stages of the contest, a major on track collision happened on the circuit's Tribune Straight just as the car of 1958 World Champion Mike Hawthorn, while entering the pits, slowed down opponent Lance Macklin's Austin-Healy.

Causing Macklin to take sudden and forceful evasive action, he pulled across the path of Levegh's Mercedes, which was at a much faster speed. This side-impact collision lifted Levegh's Mercedes into the air and spun it aerially only to be struck at massive velocity with a side wall, outside the racing track.

The Mercedes driver died on the spot while the volatile accident caused debris from the massively damaged car to hit spectators, who succumbed to injuries caused by the scattering compound. The race was marred by tragedy and Mercedes' world doomed.

Following the tragic events at Le Mans, Mercedes did bounce back but it took them a while. One could say that reinvention is part of the British DNA and character, and fighting back to dominate proceedings the German way.

A team that is powered by such rich DNA, featuring both charisma and power, would have been unlikely to sit out the pacey dominion of F1 – and they did not.

Mercedes were back in 1994 as prominent engine suppliers in partnership with IImor, which is now known as Mercedes AMG High-Performance Powertrains. Supplying engines for 1 season to Sauber, they shifted their focus to McLaren in 1995, leading to another superior reign in that era.

A glorious team

Helping Jenson Button power to his championship triumph in 2009, they supplied the engine to the then famous Brawn GP. Having also supplied engine the same year to Sahara Force India, they gained momentum with supplying successful engines to Williams as well.

With an eminent history of mighty achievements in a sport that is known to make stars out of nobody's and throwing prominent icons into obscurity within a single race, Mercedes have dominated the world of Formula One by continuously reinventing themselves.

For their hunger and sheer will to succeed and reign supreme over their rivals, time is right to take the hat off to the successive constructor title winners. One is sure that more glories await the smartly powered team in future.