Throughout the history of Formula 1 there have been teams that work together so flawlessly, employ such phenomenal drivers, and build such tremendous programs that they could be called nothing less than a Power Team. These are the teams that changed the face of racing, etching their own marks in the history books with a dynamic that was nothing short of magnificent and without question, undeniable. Now, as Sebastian Vettel waits to make his debut at Ferrari alongside teammate and superstar Kimi Raikkonen, once again, rumors of a Power Team begin to stir and fans wait with baited breath to see if the stable the famous Prancing Horse has in place will be enough to win it a championship.
From the earliest days of the Formula 1, teams have worked to create teams that are unshakable and uncatchable in their performance. In 1955 it was Mercedes with Juan Manual Fangio and Sir Stirling Moss who led the charge. The pair could often be found at the front of the pack throughout the weekend, dominating practice, qualifying, and the race itself with a level of expertise that few had ever seen. They were, quite possibly, the greatest pairing of F1 drivers on any team. Throughout the early to mid-fifties, Mercedes employed the skill of both Fangio and Moss to win championship after championship. It wasn’t until the tragic death of Mercedes driver Pierre Levegh in 1955 at Le Mans that took the name Mercedes out of racing for decades.
Mercedes, however, is not the only team to have put together a line up so brilliant that it seemed unbeatable. In the mid to late sixties it was Lotus who took up the flag and built a Power Team, led by none other than Jim Clark, who was hailed at the time as the best driver in the sport. Clark took the Lotus 25 and drove it to victories in seven out of ten races during the 1965 season. In 1967 Graham Hill joined the team creating a Power Team that hadn’t been seen since the Fangio and Moss era. Another championship for Clark seemed a certainty in 1968 until Clark’s tragic death in Germany while driving a Formula 2 car. Hill went on to take the championship but Lotus’s run as a historically unbeatable team was lost.
It was McLaren that brought forth the next team so unconquerable that they became F1’s next Power Team. During the late eighties and early nineties McLaren had Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and then Gehard Berger in the driver’s seat and a team of brilliant mechanics that backed them up. This was the era that saw Senna win three world championships and Prost one. They were phenomenal and other teams often raced for second place. A team so powerful, however, does not come about without difficulty and the tension between the two champions threatened to fracture the team completely. Eventually Prost would depart for Ferrari after winning the title in 1989. From there, Williams took over. Nigel Mansell won the title in 1992 but it was the Power Team of Alain Prost and Damon Hill that made their mark on history. Between the two of them, they won back to back championships and all but shut out the competition. The utter dominance of the team ended when the FIA banned driver aids but they still managed to win both the 1996 and 1997 World Championships.
It was Ferrari, however, who had a Power Team like no other. From 2000-2004 Ferrari was uncatchable, unshakable, and unbeatable. In 2000 Michael Schumacher brought the team their first drivers’ title since 1979 and Ferrari never looked back. He won the title again in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004. He created, with Jean Todt, the ultimate Formula 1 team. His best pairing came with teammate Rubens Barrichello, who while not being the typical Power Team member in terms of actual success, was in fact one of the most instrumental parts of Ferrari’s powerhouse team. He was the support that helped open the door for Schumacher at times, the wing man that made it happen for the superstar, a role he played with great integrity and dedication. It was not until Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel did we again see such a team.
In the modern era, it has been Red Bull, and now Mercedes, that have created the Power Teams. Red Bull and Vettel were unstoppable. Teams truly raced for second place, with Vettel often being so far ahead that unless his car came to a standstill it would not be possible to catch him. This was Mercedes in the 2014 season. They were a force to be reckoned with, teams fighting valiantly to be third behind the power duo that was Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. Reminiscent of McLaren era of the early nineties, however, the tension between the teammates threatened to shatter the team and on more than one occasion the discord spilled out into the public in an unsightly manner.
So what is the real effect of the Power Team on Formula 1? Are teams so dominant that they force others to race for the places behind them hurting, or helping, the sport? In the era of Schumacher’s Ferrari reign people cheered passionately for the hero that had returned world titles to their beloved Ferrari. By the end of Schumacher’s tenor at the legendary car builder’s, people were booing when he won, tired of seeing him, and only him, victorious. History repeated itself with Vettel as people cheered with wild excitement when he first stormed onto the F1 scene, however, by the time he won his last championship they booed him every time he climbed the podium. Yes, the competition between Rosberg and Hamilton was exciting. To watch two skilled drivers battle over the twists and turns of any F1 circuit is a work of art. That being said, by the end of the season most viewers were expressing a desire to see some other teams, any other team, win.
At the end of the day, the question lies with the fans. Do Power Teams increase the draw and the excitement of Formula 1? Do they inspire passion and devotion to the sport in ways that every day teams could not begin to imagine? Do they further racing in terms of innovation and technology or do they create such a vacuum that such innovation is smothered in a sport that found its genesis in brilliance and creativity? It is for the fan to decide, knowing that as they do, they decide the future of Formula 1 as we know it.
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