Mercedes-Benz in motorsport
Mercedes is also one of only three constructors to complete the Triple Crown of Motorsport (wins at the Indianapolis 500, 24 Hours of Le Mans, and Monaco Grand Prix), a feat that Mercedes achieved as both a chassis manufacturer and an engine manufacturer by winning the 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The two companies which were merged to form the Mercedes-Benz brand in 1926 had both already enjoyed success in the new sport of motor racing throughout their separate histories.
A single Benz competed in the world's first motor race, the 1894 Paris–Rouen, where Émile Roger finished 14th in 10 hours 1 minute.
These, the brainchild of Benz chief engineer Hans Nibel (1880–1934), were inspired by the Rumpler Tropfenwagen and were intended to increase public acceptance of mid-engined cars.
[6] They were fitted with a 1,991 cc (121.5 cu in) DOHC inline six producing 60 kW (80 hp)[6] and demonstrated "impeccable roadholding" at 140 km/h (90 mph) and above.
[7] Despite a promising start, with a fourth and a fifth (and one retirement) in their debut,[7] they did no better in three years of Grands Prix and hillclimbing,[8] and the expected public acceptance did not materialize.
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.
Juan Manuel Fangio (1911–1995), a previous champion (1951) transferred mid-season from Maserati to Mercedes-Benz for their debut at the French Grand Prix on 4 July 1954.
The team had immediate success and recorded a 1–2 victory with Fangio and Karl Kling (1910–2003), as well as the fastest lap (Hans Herrmann).
In a season dominated by the Renault powered Benetton B195s and Williams FW17s, the McLaren-Mercedes partnership produced thirty points with 2 podium finishes from Mika Häkkinen.
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.
[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.
With an Adrian Newey designed MP4/13 for 1998, McLaren went on to win both the Drivers' Championship with Häkkinen and the Constructors' title, their first in seven years, by twenty-three points to their nearest rivals Ferrari.
[14] The team, renamed and branded Mercedes GP, debuted at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix, with an all-German driver line-up of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher and was their full return to factory sponsored motorsport in F1.
At Le Mans that year, a disaster occurred in which a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR collided with another car, killing more than eighty spectators.
[16] In fact in the aftermath of the Le Mans disaster, it would be several decades until Mercedes-Benz returned to front line motorsport.
However, 1989 was to be a different story with Sauber-Mercedes winning all but one championship race to become world champions (including coming 1st and 2nd at the 24 Hours of Le Mans - all achieved with the C9.
For the 1990 World Sportscar Championship season the C9 was replaced by the all-new C11, while the team was renamed Mercedes-Benz (though the outfit was still run by Sauber).
In late 2024, it was announced that Mercedes-AMG would return to Le Mans after 25 years as Iron Lynx is set to run two AMG GT3's in the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship.
[19][20] For the 2016 season, Erebus ceased development of its E63 AMGs to instead field a pair of Holden VF Commodores, bringing an end to Mercedes-Benz' involvement in the Supercars Championship for the foreseeable future.
[21] On July 24, 2017, Mercedes announced that they would enter the FIA Formula E Championship for the 2019–20 season with a works effort, leaving the DTM series in favour of the new venture.
On August 13–21, 1983 at the Nardo High Speed Track in southern Italy, the new compact-size W201 190 class, sporting a 16-valve engine, built by Cosworth, broke three FIA world records after running almost non-stop (only a 20-sec pit stop every 2½ hours) in a total of 201 hours, 39 minutes, and 43 seconds—completing 50,000 kilometres (31,000 mi) at an average speed of 248 km/h (154 mph).
This was done knowing that the "forgotten" loophole would be closed immediately after they took advantage of it,[24] and so the engine would in fact be usable only for this single race.
Starting from 1995, Daimler AG entered the CART IndyCar World Series full-time via the Mercedes-Benz brand by rebranding the Ilmor engines.
However, a lack of competitive results in the following seasons and the CART/IRL split meant Mercedes gradually lost interest and the German manufacturer shut down its CART Champ Car operations at the end of the 2000 season as DaimlerChrysler re-allocate their resources for NASCAR Winston Cup Series from 2001 onwards via the Dodge brand (Mercedes-Benz and Dodge were sister brands at the time as well as R5P7 engines were also helped development by Mercedes-Benz).
[26] The M271 made its competitive debut in the 2002 German Formula 3 Championship in two of Mücke Motorsport's three Dallara F302 chassis, driven by Markus Winkelhock and Marcel Lasse.
