Mercedes will secure an unprecedented seventh Formula 1 constructors’ title in a row at Imola this weekend unless Red Bull outscores the championship leader by 35 points.
Last year Mercedes set a new record of six consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ championship doubles.
It is poised to become the first team to win seven straight titles, eclipsing Ferrari’s run of six teams’ titles from 1999 to 2004.
Mercedes leads Red Bull by 209 points with five races remaining. It only needs to be 176 points clear after this weekend to be guaranteed the constructors’ title.
To delay Mercedes’ success, Red Bull will need to outscore its rival by 35 points – which happens to be Red Bull’s single biggest points haul all season, achieved with Max Verstappen and Alex Albon’s first and fifth places in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone.
And even if Red Bull scores a 1-2 finish at Imola and fastest lap for a maximum 44-point haul, it would require Mercedes to score just nine points – and it hasn’t scored fewer than 17 in a grand prix this year.
The last time Red Bull outscored Mercedes by 35 points was the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix (pictured above), in which both Mercedes drivers were wiped out on the opening lap. Red Bull went on to win with Verstappen, whose team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was fourth.
“You could say it is a 99% chance you’re winning it this weekend, but the truth is I only get to enjoy the moment if it’s done,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
“I’m very proud of the team, being there at the top seven consecutive times.
“It doesn’t feel the overwhelming way that it probably will in the future” :: Toto Wolff
“I remember when we debated in 2014 internally, what we could set as a target. Winning a championship would be fantastic.
“Aldo Costa said we’re not ambitious enough. We should write down that our aim is to win multiple championships.
“If somebody would have told us that it would be seven, I would have clearly thought he needs some support.
“Here we go, we have achieved it. It doesn’t feel the overwhelming way that it probably will in the future.”
Team Standings
| Pos | Team | Points | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | R13 | R14 | R15 | R16 | R17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mercedes | 573 | 37 | 43 | 41 | 25 | 34 | 41 | 43 | 17 | 44 | 41 | 25 | 44 | 44 | 25 | 29 | 7 | 33 |
| 2 | Red Bull | 319 | 0 | 27 | 28 | 23 | 35 | 22 | 23 | 0 | 15 | 19 | 19 | 15 | 0 | 14 | 34 | 8 | 37 |
| 3 | McLaren | 202 | 26 | 13 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 30 | 8 | 0 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 22 | 13 | 18 |
| 4 | BWT Racing Point F1 Team | 195 | 8 | 14 | 18 | 2 | 14 | 22 | 3 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 0 | 40 | 1 |
| 5 | Renault F1 Team | 181 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 23 | 12 | 12 | 16 | 15 | 6 | 15 | 1 | 8 | 28 | 9 |
| 6 | Ferrari | 131 | 19 | 0 | 8 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 10 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | AlphaTauri | 109 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 27 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 4 |
| 8 | Alfa Romeo | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Haas | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Williams | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton cannot quite clinch a Michael Schumacher-equalling seventh drivers’ title this weekend.
Hamilton is 77 points clear of team-mate Valtteri Bottas so the furthest he can be ahead after Imola is 103 points, with 104 points on offer over the remaining four grands prix.
It means barring a dramatic next two weekends, Hamilton is likely to be crowned at F1’s return to Turkey next month.
Hamilton has won eight of the 12 races so far, with Bottas scoring two and the other two split between Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and shock Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly.
“Every year I’m surprised, we end the season knowing that it can be very difficult,” said Wolff of the team’s dominance.
“We’re never sure if we’ve done enough over the winter, it keeps us pushing ourselves even more, when you see the first races go well, there’s still a doubt if we’ll be this efficient until the end of the season.
“This doubt, questioning yourself all the time, is something that has been an ingredient of the past success, doesn’t mean in the future that it’s going to be like that.”
Hamilton added: “We don’t come into the season expecting to be dominant, of course, we put in the work in the hope that’s the ultimate goal and dream scenario to be in.
“But when we get to the first race, we never know how the car is going to be behave, never know if we’ve done enough.
“We just keep our heads down, and keep grafting away, and still to this point in the season, we are.”
