70 years into its inaugural race, Formula One has seen more than 100 teams have built cars to get the coveted World Championship. However, only 15 teams have won the Formula 1 Constructors championship so far, so it is obvious that there is a lot more at play to win a Championship than just a fast car.
It takes great designers, great racers, great pit-crew and a great management to lift the Constructors Championship and any side that has won a title is an attest to that fact.
There have been eras of dominance throughout the history of the sport, so in this article we feature the 5 most successful teams in F1 history:
5. Mercedes – 7 titles:
Title years: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019,2020
Mercedes evolved from Brawn and Tyrrell‘s single constructor crowns as they purchased the Brawn F1 team and it could be added to their legacy.
Officially Mercedes has 7 consecutive titles to their name in the difficult modern era.
After the 1955 Le Mans tragedy Mercedes decided to quit their racing division and wouldn’t return to F1 as a constructor until 2010, but their rise since has been unstoppable. Having hired Lewis Hamilton as their #1 racer, Mercedes has made a clean sweep of all available titles and did the same again this season, leading the Constructors Championship by 258 points ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the season.
4. Lotus- 7 titles:
Title years: 1963, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1978
Iconic engineer Colin Chapman created a car to be beaten when they dominated the 60’s and early 70’s with back-end support from the great Enzo Ferrari.
Ford and Cosworth also helped the aerodynamic side of the car as they brought the F1 a new era with the introduction of the ground effect.
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3. McLaren – 8 titles:
Title years: 1974, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1998
McLaren is best known as the F1 constructor who won 8 constructor titles.
They actually sits second on the all-time list of drivers’ titles, with 12, only three shy of Ferrari’s total of 15. Their first title was won by Emerson Fittipaldi in 1974 and the last was won by Lewis Hamilton in 2008, who was still a rookie at that point.
They dominated the 80's and 90’s with their incredible caliber of drivers.
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2. Williams Racing – 9 titles:
Title years: 1980, 1981, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997
Williams was founded by team owner Sir Frank Williams and automotive engineer Sir Patrick Head.
The Williams team had the most amazing streak of all teams dominating the 90’s and some part of the 80’s.
The team from Oxfordshire entered its first race as a constructor in 1977 and won its first title by 1980.They also won 8 more titles over the next 17 years.
The Patrick Head lead team helped to spawn most of the early winners, and he was followed by Adrian Newey, a man who is known for building incredibly rapid racing cars.
The turn of the century has not gone in the way they hope, with the Williams family having recently sold the team to an investment firm.
1. Scuderia Ferrari – 16 titles:
Title : 1961, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008
They were the only team in the list that started out 8 years before any team else. They have also won more races than any other, had more 1-2 finishes, more podiums, more pole positions, more fastest laps and won more points than any other team in F1 history.
Since 2009, it’s been a dry spell for the team, with the new dominant teams of Mercedes and Red Bull took over the reigns but one can never write Scuderia out!
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