Racing
- 1894: Benz and Daimler cars were in what is considered
to be the first car race, from Paris to Rouen.
- 1908: Grand Prix cars were limited to ≥1,100kg, raced at Dieppe.
1908 Mercedes 12.8-litre 4-cyl. - 1908: Grand Prix cars were limited to ≥1,100kg, raced at Dieppe.
- 1926: Daimler and Benz merged to form Mercedes-Benz.
- 1934: The new (≤) '750kg' Grand Prix (GP) class first saw duels
between Mercedes and
Auto Union.
1937 W125 - 1954: Mercedes entered the
new Formula One (F1)
category (2.5-litres non-supercharged)
with the W196 and
drivers Juan Manuel
Fangio and
Karl Kling.
Fangio won the drivers' championship after switching from
Maserati
during the season.
Mercedes made two kinds of bodywork for the W196 - the first open-wheeled
and the other streamlined (Stromlinie),
enclosing the wheels, for high-speed circuits.
The 1954 chassis #00009/54 was
driven by Fangio to victory in the 1955 Buenos Aires GP.
It sold for €51,155,000 in Stromlinienwagen form
at a special RM Sotheby's auction,
1 Feb. 2025.
1955 W196- 1955: Mercedes drivers Fangio and Stirling Moss finished 1-2 in the drivers' world championship.
- 1955: At the Le Mans 24-hour race, the Mercedes 300 SLR sports car of Pierre Levegh crashed into a spectator stand killing 79 people. Mercedes subsequently withdrew from all forms of motor racing.
a 1955 300 SLR- 1984: Mercedes entered touring car racing.
- 1985: Mercedes began supplying engines for Sauber racing sports cars.
- 1989: The Sauber-Mercedes of Mass, Dickens and Reuter won the Le Mans 24-hour race.
- 1994: Mercedes began supplying F1 engines to Sauber and, in 1995, to McLaren.
- 2009: F1 engines were supplied to Brawn, Force India, and McLaren. Brawn won the constructors' championship and their driver Jenson Button won the drivers'.
- 1985: Mercedes began supplying engines for Sauber racing sports cars.
- 2010: Mercedes bought Brawn, the 2009 winning F1 team, to form the Mercedes GP team.