19:03
Administrator
 |
| Hermann Lang at the wheel of a 1937 |
 |
| 1923 Benz Tropfenwag |
Grand Prix motor racing
1923-1939
Benz was involved in Grand Prix motor racing from 1923, when the Benz Tropfenwagen (described as having a teardrop shape) was introduced to motorsport at the European Grand Prix at Monza. These, the brainchild of Benz chief engineer Hans Nibel, were inspired by the Rumpler Tropfenwagen and were intended to increase public acceptance of mid-engined cars. They resembled the later Auto Unions (also built in part by Rumpler engineers),and used the virtually unchanged Rumpler chassis. They were fitted with a 1,991 cc (121.5 cu in) DOHC inline six producing 80 hp (60 kW) and demonstrated "impeccable roadholding" at 90 mph (140 km/h) and above.Despite a promising start, with a fourth and a fifth (and one retirement) in their debut, they did no better in three years of Grands Prix and hillclimbing, and the expected public acceptance did not materialize.Daimler Financial difficulties led to a merger with .
In the 1930s, the new joint company, Daimler-Benz, with their mighty Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows, dominated Grand Prix racing in Europe together with its rival, Auto Union. In fact the colour of the cars, which was later to become legendary, was unintentional - they had initially been painted white as was traditional for German cars, but the paint was stripped away to reduce weight. The cars set speed records up to 435 km/h (270 mph). The team was guided by the great RennleiterAlfred Neubauer (racing team manager) until the company ceased racing at the start of WWII.
1954-1955 dominance
The success continued into the 1955 season, where the same car was used again. The team's drivers, Fangio and the young Stirling Moss, won 6 of the 9 rounds between them, and finished first and second in that year's championship.
1993-2009
Following the 1955 Le Mans disaster, Mercedes-Benz withdrew from all factory-sponsored motorsport.[9] Mercedes made its return to Formula One in 1993 as an engine supplier to Sauber, with whom they had already enjoyed success in sportscar racing, in its debut F1 season, with a V10 engine manufactured by Ilmor.[10] The Sauber C12 made a good debut at the 1993 South African Grand Prix, with drivers JJ Lehto and Karl Wendlinger qualifying within the top ten and the team left South Africa with two points thanks to Lehto. Mercedes supplied Sauber for 2 years, scoring twenty-four points during their partnership.
 |
| The 1995 McLaren-Mercedes MP4-10 Formula One car being driven by Mika Häkkinen. |
1995 saw the normally aspirated Mercedes-Benz-Ilmor F1-V10 moved to the Woking based McLaren team, replacing Peugeot who moved to supplying their engines to the Jordan team. In a season dominated by the Renault powered Benetton B195s and Williams FW17s, the McLaren-Mercedes partnership produce thirty points with 2 podium finishes from Mika Häkkinen. 1996 produced similar results to '95 with the team finishing behind the trio of Williams, Benetton and Ferrari, but the team still scored three times as many podium positions in comparison to the previous year. Outside Formula One, Mercedes-Benz had increased its shareholding in the Ilmor company in 1996 and took full control nine years later.[citation needed] They have continued to design and build engines for McLaren.
 |
| Since 1996, Mercedes-Benz have supplied their cars for use as safety cars in Formula One. |
In the opening race of the 1997 Formula One season, David Coulthard produced victory for McLaren and ushered in a new era of success for the British based squad. Coincidentally this was the first race in which McLaren had competed with a silver livery due to West replacing Marlboro, who moved to Ferrari, as title sponsor. The colour drew inevitable comparisons to the Silver Arrows of a previous era, and the nickname was applied to the McLarens.[citation needed] This was a significant result in F1 racing, McLaren's first victory for three seasons and the first win for Mercedes-Benz since Juan Manuel Fangio's success at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. McLaren and Mercedes-Benz still, however, finished fourth in the Contructors' Championship behind the same three teams as the previous two seasons, but they had collected more than twice as many points in '97 as they had in '95.
 |
| Lewis Hamilton won the Drivers' Championship with a Mercedes powered McLaren in 2008. |
2000 and 2001 saw McLaren and their drivers play second fiddle to the dominant partnership of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari, as the Italian-German partnership won nineteen of a possible thirty-four races. Häkkinen retired from Formula One before the 2002 season, although he would later represent Mercedes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series. Fellow Finn Kimi Räikkönen replaced him. McLaren dropped down the in order in terms of Constructors' Championship position, losing its second place position to the BMW-Williams team, with the season still being dominated overall by Schumacher and Ferrari. For the following four years McLaren proved to be one of the fastest cars in the field but lacked in reliability, most notably in 2005 and 2006; the 2006 season marked the first since 1996 in which McLaren had failed to win a race. In 2007 McLaren's drivers finished second and third in the Drivers' Championship, only 1 point behind Champion Kimi Räikkönen. In 2008 Lewis Hamilton won the Drivers' Championship by 1 point from Ferrari's Felipe Massa.
In 2003, this partnership was extended into the production of a Mercedes-McLaren roadcar, the SLR. Mercedes also supplies the cars to the FIA for use as safety cars and other race official roles, such as the medical car, at Formula One races.
