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Few can argue that Red Bull and Mercedes have dominated F1 for the last decade.
Since 2010, the sport has had three specific periods of domination. The first period was from 2010-13. The second started in 2014 and continued until 2020. Now, we're in the third period of domination that started in 2021.
There's one thing common between these three periods. It's been either Red Bull or Mercedes heading the charge at the top with everybody else following them. This includes the Sebastian Vettel era (2010-13), Lewis Hamilton era (2014-20) and the current Max Verstappen era (2021-present).
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Why has the last decade or so been dominated by these two teams? Let's take a look.
Why are Red Bull and Mercedes dominating F1?
#1 Stability
Christian Horner has been a part of Red Bull since 2005 and started winning in 2010.
From 2014 to 2020, there was a seven-year barren period, but not once was there noise that Horner was not the right man for the job. Not once did we hear the late Dietrich Mateschitz say anything untoward about the team principal.
Unlike a marquee team in Ferrari or even Alpine recently, it's this stability that goes a long way in letting the man in charge work.
Similarly for Mercedes, the last couple of years have been woeful. The team has just one win to its name which is a massive fall from securing double-digit wins for nearly a decade.
In all of this, there hasn't even been a whisper around Toto Wolff's position as a leader. He's done his job and focused entirely on bringing the team back to where it was without any external pressures.
#2 Always ahead of the competition
This is an aspect that teams like Ferrari and McLaren will hope to take inspiration from.
Since 2009, the change in regulations has meant an opportunity for a team to capitalize. In the early 2010s, it was Red Bull with its pathbreaking off-throttle blown diffuser and then it was Mercedes with the ominous V6 that swept everyone off their feet.
Even with these new regulations, while we have seen Red Bull take the lead, Mercedes has shown the ability to think out of the box with its zero-side pod idea. This ability to go for something bold and be the first to find the right solution has helped the two teams succeed in F1.
#3 The right people backed by state-of-the-art infrastructure
Red Bull has not only Adrian Newey, but a team of brilliant talents working in unison. In the last couple of years, it has suffered a brain drain of sorts as quite a few members have left but it still continues to perform brilliantly.
The reason behind this has been the push to have the right people in the right place. Credit for this level of detail does go to Christian Horner and his methodical approach. Something similar can be seen with Red Bull's powertrain where state-of-the-art facilities have been set up and the right people have been put in place.
On the other side of the table, Toto Wolff has built a similar animal. Mercedes is also looking at a revamped facility with some prized assets like James Allison, Andrew Shovlin, and Mike Elliot.
#4 Lack of background politics and boardroom interference
What we've seen in the last few seasons has been a real example of how background politics can mess up the functioning of the team.
We've seen Ferrari be a complete political mess since 2008 with its condition getting worse by the season. We've seen something similar happen with Alpine as well just before the summer.
On the other hand, since 2005, Christian Horner has not had much of an intervention since Dietrich Mateschitz was in charge. This could change now with a different structure in place.
Similarly, Toto Wolff and before him, Ross Brawn, were not subjected to constant scrutiny and politics. The two were free to do their jobs.
This is precisely what was highlighted by Otmar recently when talking about Alpine/Renault's failure. There was too much control from the boardroom and it almost always only works negatively.
#5 The 'Don't blame the driver' culture
Red Bull went through a period where the performance of drivers was maybe not elite. From Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo to Max Verstappen, the drivers were not performing to the best of their abilities.
At the time though, the team did not lay the blame on the drivers. Christian Horner backed them and stressed the importance of having the right car to challenge at the front.
Something similar is in play at Mercedes right now with Lewis Hamilton having a somewhat off-season in 2022 and George Russell struggling a bit in 2023. Toto Wolff has not thrown the drivers under the bus, though. Contrary to that, he's been focused on giving the drivers the right car to challenge for the title.
This is arguably one of the more prominent divergences that we see in these two teams as compared to what has happened in Ferrari.
At Ferrari, there was a time when Fernando Alonso was blamed for the team's failures. Sebastian Vettel was crucified by the Italian media with no backing from the team to safeguard him and Charles Leclerc faces the heat every now and then.
Backing your most valuable asset has to be the biggest and most important rule of business. Both Red Bull and Mercedes have shown an ability to adhere to that.
