5 Most Successful F1 Teams by Championship Wins

Formula 1 is one of the most beloved European sports and sees billions of dollars invested in car manufacturing engineers and racer wages. There are normally ten F1 teams per event, such as the Grand Prix, where 20 cars race, with two teammates on each squad. Over the last few decades, several racing franchises have done considerably better than others, winning more championships than their close competitors.

In this article, we’ll discuss the most successful F1 teams based on their number of Constructor (not Driver) Championship wins, when the teams were the most successful, who was driving, and what historical Grand Prix events they ended up winning.

5. Lotus – 7 Constructors Titles

While we haven’t seen Lotus do anything spectacular in the modern era of F1, they’d be a dominant racing team throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Jim Clark would be the first Lotus driver to win a Formula One World Championship in 1963, starting a hot streak of Constructor title victories in 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1972, and 1978 for a total of 7 Constructors titles, edging out Red Bull (6 Constructor Titles) by just one more team win.

In the end, Lotus would retire their racing team and program due to heavy financial difficulties, stemming from the death of the team’s co-founder Colin Chapman. Red Bull will most likely break into the top 5 total Constructor wins eventually with one more win.

4. Mercedes – 8 Constructors Titles

In the modern F1 era, Mercedes has been at the top, especially throughout the last decade. Most of these titles can be thanks to Lewis Hamilton, replacing Mick Schumacher in 2013. From this point forward, not only would Hamilton win plenty of Driver titles, but he’d lead the way for Mercedes, winning the Constructor title in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, eight years straight.

Mercedes has single-handedly been put on the map by Lewis Hamilton’s incredible driving skill, and it will be interesting to see Mercedes battle it out against McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull in the coming season, with Lewis Hamilton no longer on team Mercedes for the first time in his career.

T2. McLaren – 9 Constructors Titles

McLaren made waves in 2024 when it earned its 9th Constructor Title to edge out Mercedes for a tie for second place with Williams in overall wins. A combination of drivers throughout the 1980s, including Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda and Alain Prost would help propel McLaren to one of the top overall team spots in F1 history.

McLaren would find success through these drivers, winning the constructor title in 1974, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991, until Mika Hakkinen would help add to the team legacy with victories in 1998 before Lando Norris would add the most recent of 9 Constructor titles in 2024.

T2. Williams – 9 Constructors Titles

Unless you’re an F1 fanatic, you may not have heard of the Williams race team owned by Frank Williams back in the early 80s. The team’s success began with Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann taking the title in 1980 and 1981, then once again in 1986 and 1987 with a newer revamped Honda engine.

From then on, nearly four different drivers would help Williams achieve a dominant F1 legacy in the 90s, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, winning the Constructor title in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1997 before ultimately falling to financial troubles and decreasing performance causing the team to be sold to Dorilton Capital in 2020.

1. Ferrari – 16 Constructor Titles

It’s no surprise to see Ferrari as the team with the most victories in F1 history, considering they’ve lived and breathed racing since the early 1960s. No other team even comes close to Ferrari’s 16 Constructor titles, starting back in 1961 with Phil Hill, Richi Ginther and Wolfgang Von Trips, carving the path for a future legacy with their first victory before taking the trophy again in 1964. After a 10-year quiet period, a new driver known as Niki Lauda would take home the 1975, 1976 and 1977 before Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve would win the titles in 1979, 1982 and 1983.

The next string of dominance would come for Ferrari in 1999, where drivers like Jean Todt and Ross Brawn would fire off six consecutive titles in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. Kimi Raikkonen would also add to the bag of wins in 2007 and 2008, setting the date for the last time Ferrari would take home any Constructor or Driver trophies in its history, although with a massive seven more constructor trophies over McLaren and Williams.