McLaren-Mercedes 250th

23/08/2009
NEWS STORY

Today's European Grand Prix will mark the 250th race of the McLaren-Mercedes partnership. In light of this momentous occasion, here are some facts and figures.

Back on October 28, 1994, when the McLaren-Mercedes partnership was officially announced, the most popular Mercedes-Benz road car in Germany was the C180, which sold 122,101 models that year. The company produced 594,376 cars in '94 - in '08, the company built 1.2 million cars. On the same day in Britain, Manchester boyband Take That were at the top of the charts with 'Sure' - the group's fifth number one single.

Their drivers have scored an incredible 1641 points since their first race together at the 1995 Brazilian Grand Prix (where, incidentally, Mika Hakkinen picked up three points for finishing fourth): that's a ratio of 6.6 points per race.

Together, they've won 59 grands prix - nearly one victory every four races.

11 drivers have raced for the team: Fernando Alonso (2007, 17 GPs, 4 wins), Mark Blundell (1995, 15 GPs), David Coulthard (1996-2004, 150 GPs, 12 wins), Pedro de la Rosa (2005-2006, 9 GPs), Mika Hakkinen (1995-2001, 116 GPs, 20 wins, 2 drivers' championships), Lewis Hamilton (2007-, 46 GPs, 10 wins, 1 drivers' championship), Heikki Kovalainen (2008-, 29 GPs, 1 win), Jan Magnusson (1995, 1 GP), Nigel Mansell (1995, 2 GPs), Juan Pablo Montoya (2005-2006, 27 GPs, 3 wins), Kimi Raikkonen (2002-2006, 71 GPs, 9 wins) and Alex Wurz (2005, 1 GP).

The youngest-ever McLaren-Mercedes grand prix winner is Lewis Hamilton, who won his first race for the team in Canada on June 10 2007 aged a tender 22 years, five months and three days. He also became the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history, lifting the title aged 23 years, nine months and 26 days.

By contrast, the team's oldest grand prix winner was Mika Hakkinen who triumphed at the 2001 US Grand Prix on September 30 2001 aged 33 years and two days.

The team's most enduring driver pairing was Mika and David, who, on the occasion of their final grand prix together - the 2001 Japanese Grand Prix - had notched up a mighty 340 grand prix starts between them, 275 of them for McLaren-Mercedes.

McLaren-Mercedes was the first Formula 1 team in history to gain pole and win a grand prix using KERS Hybrid. Other notable firsts for the partnership include maiden wins for brake-steer (Monza 1997) and grooved tyres (Melbourne, 1998).

The team's most successful overall driver is Mika Hakkinen. He won two world championships and 20 grands prix, stood on 51 podiums, scored 407 points, took 26 pole positions and carved 25 fastest laps.

Mercedes-Benz Motorsport boss Norbert Haug sported a moustache for 99 races of the 250-race partnership - David Coulthard immediately labeled Norbert 'more aerodynamic' following its removal!

The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was the first production car model to sport a carbonfibre monocoque.

Vital statistics

Races: 250

Drivers' World Championships: 3 (1998, 1999, 2008)

Constructors' World Championships: 1 (1998)

Wins: 59 (23.6%)

Poles: 62 (24.8%)

Fastest laps: 68 (27.2%)

Qualifying one-twos: 27 (10.8%)

Race one-twos: 18 (7.2%)

Lead laps: 3933 of 15,726 laps (25.01%)

Lead miles: 11634 of 46968 (24.77%)