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Mercedes' 300th GP: Our Journey to Three Centuries of F1 Starts

This weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will be the 300th race in Formula 1 for Mercedes as a works team.

We are taking you on a trip down Mercedes memory lane, recalling some of our favourite and most important milestones on our journey to 300.

Race 1: 1954 French Grand Prix - The First Grand Prix

A perfect start to life in Formula 1 for the Mercedes team and their eagerly anticipated W196. Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio led home a 1-2 with Karl Kling in a race of attrition at Reims, which saw just six of the 22 starters make it to the chequered flag at the fourth round of the 1954 season.

The win would help Fangio - who drove for Maserati in the first three rounds - claim a second World Drivers' title that season. Mercedes had arrived in F1 and arrived in style.

The icing on the cake would be victory at home in the German Grand Prix one race later.

Race 11: 1955 British Grand Prix - Domination and A World Title

Every F1 team dreams of a 1-2, but the Silver Arrows went not one, but TWO better at the 1955 British Grand Prix at Aintree, completing a clean sweep of the top four.

Home hero Stirling Moss took his first F1 win, leading home Fangio, Kling, and Piero Taruffi. No other car finished on the lead lap.

It was also the first time an Englishman would win their home Grand Prix in the sport.

The result all but sealed a third championship crown for Fangio, who unlike the previous season had competed for Mercedes in every race.

Race 13: 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix - The Return of the Silver Arrows

Mercedes-Benz had returned to F1 as an engine supplier in 1994, and won championships with McLaren at the end of the decade, but did not return as a works team until 2010, when Daimler-AG took control of the title-winning Brawn GP team at the end of 2009.

The first race back with Nico Rosberg and seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher at the wheel ended with a P5 and P6 finish, which did little to indicate the success that would follow in the coming years.

It planted the seed, though. Mercedes was back on F1 soil, and the branches of success were not too far away.

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Race 53: 2012 Chinese Grand Prix - First Win Of the New Era

The team had scored three podiums in its first season back in 2010, but none in 2011. That changed in 2012 in the best way possible when Nico clinched victory at the Chinese Grand Prix - the first for the German and the first in F1 for Mercedes since 1955.

Nico had taken pole the day before and drove superbly to clinch success by 20 seconds.

The first win in 58 years was the mark's 10th in F1, and though no more would follow that season, victory in Shanghai undoubtedly laid the foundations for what was to come.

Race 58: 2012 European Grand Prix - A Legend's Last Podium

After retiring for the first time in 2006 and then having a series of near misses on his return to the sport in 2010, it was coming up for six years without a podium when Michael Schumacher lined up 12th for the European Grand Prix at Valencia in 2012.

Michael drove the perfect clean race around the Spanish streets, staying out of trouble to inherit P3 in the closing laps, holding off a charging Mark Webber to join Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen on the podium.

It would prove to be the 155th and final podium of the German's illustrious career, but the smiles and celebrations in the pit lane post-race showed it meant just as much as the first back in 1992.

Race 78: 2013 British Grand Prix - Winning at Home After Half a Decade

While Germany may be the ancestral home of Mercedes-Benz, the team in its current guise has been based in Brackley since returning to F1 in 2010.

It means Nico's victory at the 2013 British Grand Prix meant so much to so many team members at Brackley and Brixworth - both situated in the surrounding Northamptonshire countryside.

The German Grand Prix it may not have been, but this one certainly felt a home win.

Race 80: 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix - Lewis' First Win

Many had questioned Lewis Hamiliton's decision to move to the team at the end of 2012, but the 2008 World Champion was quick to prove the doubters wrong.

A first podium in race two, and a first pole in race three demonstrated how quickly Lewis had settled into life in Brackley, and a first win was earned at round 10 in Hungary, becoming the first British driver since Moss to win a Grand Prix for Mercedes.

Lewis, who had watched team-mate Rosberg win the Monaco Grand Prix, was just getting started.

Race 108: 2014 Abu Dhabi - Desert Showdown First Title

The first season-finale of the hybrid F1 era had a championship on the line in Abu Dhabi. Nico and Lewis had enjoyed a season-long battle duelling for the ultimate prize.

The team had dominated, winning 16 of the 19 races and the only score to settle was the Drivers' title as the sun went down at Yas Marina. Lewis came out on top, winning a second World Championship and first for Mercedes since Fangio in 1955.

It would be the first of seven successive Drivers' and eight successive Constructors' titles.

Race 152: 2017 Russian Grand Prix - A First-Place Finnish

Defending champion Nico had departed at the beginning of the 2017 season, and the team selected young and fast Finn Valtteri Bottas to replace him.

It took Valtteri just four races to join the Grand Prix winners' club, driving with the speed and precision of a seasoned campaigner to triumph in Sochi.

It had taken 81 races, but Valtteri had made it to where all drivers dream of getting: the top step of an F1 podium.

Race 195: 2019 Monaco Grand Prix - For Niki

Perhaps the most highlycharged and emotional of the team's 125 wins in F1. Days before the Monaco Grand Prix, dear friend and non-executive chairman of the team, Niki Lauda had passed away at the age of 70.

Niki was a legend of our sport and had been an integral part of the team's success to that point.

Lewis' win on the streets of the Principality, with a special tribute helmet and the halo of our W10 racer decked in the Austrian's iconic red, is one that will be forever etched in the minds of those at Brackley and Brixworth.

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Race 223: 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - Constructor History

Mercedes forms an important part of F1's history, and we have been fortunate enough on some occasions to make history too.

No constructor had won seven consecutive championships before, but that all changed after a one-two for Lewis and Valtteri at Imola in 2020, beating the previous effort set by Ferrari, who had claimed the accolade for six straight seasons between 1999 and 2004.

Race 224: 2020 Turkish Grand Prix - Seventh Heaven

In a season like no other, the title again went to a driver like no other. Lewis equalled the great Michael Schumacher's tally of seven F1 Drivers' World Championships with a stunning victory in treacherous conditions in Turkey.

Lewis and his W11 had been a match made in heaven during a shortened and much-altered 2020 calendar, and the Grand Prix in Istanbul demonstrated that perfectly, taking the flag over half a minute before anyone else.

It was also the seventh season in a row the team was able to toast a world champion back in Brackley after Nico's title in 2016.

Race 262: 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix - 250 with PETRONAS and George's First Pole

The 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix was special for multiple reasons. Not only did it mark the 250th Grand Prix with PETRONAS as our title partner, but it was also George Russell's first pole position with the team and in F1.

PETRONAS has been influential in helping us bring our goals on and off track to life since we rejoined the sport in 2010 and in addition to pole, the P2 and P3 finish for Lewis and George that weekend felt like the perfect way to celebrate.

Race 270: 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix - GR's First Win

"George Russell, you are a Formula 1 race winner!" came the call from engineer Ricci Musconi on the radio. Music to the ears of any driver, and no more than George had deserved after a stellar first season with the team.

Early consistency and the pole in Hungary had been rewarded in Sao Paulo, as George led home Lewis for an unforgettable 1-2 and his first win in the sport.

It had not always been the easiest of seasons, but nothing was going to stop George and his W13 taking glory that November day in Sao Paulo.

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