In 2026, American car brand Cadillac will become the 173rd different F1 team to have started at least one grand prix. In total, only ten of the previous 172 have survived underlining the challenge that the sport poses in an environment which has famously been described as being a 'Piranha club'.
As we countdown to Cadillacs arrival, we thought we would take the time to recognise who we consider to be the best F1 teams of all time who have set the perfect blueprint for the squad that Cadillac is striving to become. Our choice for the best F1 team in history is potentially quite obvious.
![Ferrari F1 car]()
Ferrari have been in F1 since its conception in 1950
1. Ferrari
Ferrari is synonymous with Formula One, having been present since the start of the championship back in 1950. Under the stewardship of Enzo Ferrari, the team won its first race in 1951 and took its first championship in 1952, being a front runner right from the get go. Since then, the team has won a further 14 drivers championships and 16 constructors championships, firmly establishing itself as the most successful F1 team in history.
While there are countless golden periods to look back on, it was the early 2000s where Ferrari was really at its peak. With Michael Schumacher in the driving seat, Ferrari recruited many of the German's close associates from the championship winning Benetton team to put together what is arguably the greatest F1 team in history. Together they won five drivers championships and six constructors titles between 1999 and 2004 in what was at the time an unprecedented run of success. Having previously failed to win a championship since 1979, only a major tyre regulation change halted their charge during this era. However, after one difficult season the team was back in contention in 2006 in what would be Schumacher's final year in the scarlet cars.
Only one further drivers and constructors championship has been added subsequently by Ferrari, underlining just how fundamental Schumacher and his legendary team of Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and Rory Bryne really were in determining their success.
2. Mercedes-Benz
Despite dominating motoring during the pre-war years, Mercedes Benz didn't enter F1 until 1954. When they did they continued to set the standard, obliterating their competitors in 1954 and 1955. During this time they also competed in the famous Le Mans 24 hours race and it was at this event in 1955 that one of the team's cars was involved in an accident which killed over 80 spectators.
On the back of the disaster, Mercedes didn't return with its own F1 team until 2010 and results were initially modest. Despite buying the championship winning Brawn team from the previous year, the team's previous lack of investment caught up with it and it took until 2014 for Mercedes to put together a line-up which could equal its earlier projects.
Once it did get it right though, the results were unprecedented with the team winning eight consecutive constructors championships and seven drivers championships between 2014 and 2021. Unlike Ferrari in the early 2000s, the team overcame significant technical regulation changes in 2017 to maintain its winning streak.
The only reason that Mercedes fails to finish ahead of its Italian rival on our list of the best F1 teams of all time is due to Ferrari's longevity and the efficiency of the team during the Schumacher era. The 2000s Ferrari team was a steamroller which flattened the opposition with Schumacher the clear number one. Conversely, Mercedes operated with its drivers having equal status. While this was best for the fans, it did result in the occasional collision which robbed the team of the results its cars deserved.
3. McLaren
New Zealander Bruce McLaren decided to form his own team in 1966 having grown frustrated at Cooper. Little did we know at the time that the papaya coloured team would go on to become one of the stalwarts of the sport, winning its first race in 1968.
Despite the death of McLaren in 1970, the team continued to prosper winning its first championship with Emerson Fittipaldi in 1972. Another championship followed in 1976, but it was the 1980s where McLaren really excelled. Ron Dennis purchased the declining team in 1981 and quickly turned them into the team which was synonymous with excellence. This was no more in evidence than during the 1988 season where McLaren won 15 out of 16 races with Honda engines and the partnership between Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
More championships would follow in 1989, 1990 and 1991. However, by this point McLaren had started to fall behind Williams from a technical perspective. Dennis' answer to this was to hire their chief aerodynamicist Adrian Newey who returned the team to championship winning ways in 1998 and 1999.
Despite having arguably the best car in 2000, 2005 and 2007, the team failed to add to its tally of constructors championships but it did win the drivers title with Lewis Hamilton in 2008. By this point Dennis had introduced an ultimately unsuccessful matrix management structure in the technical department which prevented the team from achieving the excellence they had experienced in past decades. Dennis was eventually removed from his position with the team in 2016, handing the team over to Zak Brown who has ushered in a new era of success, winning their first constructors championship since 1998 in 2024.
Currently leading the 2025 drivers and constructors titles, you may have the chance to see the first McLaren drivers champion since Lewis Hamilton crowned if you join us at the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
4. Lotus
By the end of the 1950s, British teams were becoming more competitive and it was Colin Chapman's Lotus team which became the dominant force in the 1960s and 1970s. Chapman was the driving force behind the squad and had a unique combination of technical prowess and commercial savvy, innovating technologies such as front and rear wings to F1 cars and also becoming the first team principal to sell space on his cars to sponsors. This ensured that he had the budget available to continue to create trend setting designs.
Lotus won its first drivers and constructors championships in 1963 just five years after its debut with Jim Clark at the wheel. Clark was champion again in 1965, missing out in 1964 largely due to unreliability. This reflected the fact that while Chapman's cars were fast, they all too often suffered failures and were generally considered dangerous at a time when driver fatalities were an all too often occurrence. Clark would lose his life in 1968 but his team-mate Graham Hill picked up the mantle, sealing the teams third title that year.
Throughout the 1970s Lotus continued to innovate with technologies such as ground effect aerodynamics which helped the team dominate in 1978. However, Chapman was by this point becoming distracted by Lotus's expanding business portfolio and the team quickly dropped in competitiveness. Chapman's death from a heart attack in 1982 steepened the decline until his replacement Peter Warr hired upcoming driver Ayrton Senna in 1985. Senna overcame the deficiencies of the cars to win races the team probably didn't deserve. However, this was only a temporary resurgence with the team failing to win another race once Senna had departed for McLaren in 1988.
Lotus eventually collapsed in 1994 due to debts which had been accrued as they frantically tried to keep pace with the developments of richer teams. It was a sad end to a team which had become a byword for innovation both commercially and technically.
5. Williams
Just as Lotus was going into decline, a new British team emerged as a frontrunner in the form of Williams Grand Prix Engineering. Frank Williams' previous attempts at team ownership had largely proven to be unsuccessful, but it was his partnership with legendary designer Patrick Head which proved to be the missing piece of the puzzle. Operating from an old carpet warehouse in Didcot, the team won its first race in 1979 just two years after its formation. This laid the foundations for the teams first drivers and constructors championship success in 1980 with Australian Alan Jones, whose no nonsense approach went on to characterise the atypical Williams driver.
More success followed in 1981 and 1982 before the team's efforts were hobbled by their inability to secure a turbo engine supplier. This all changed when they formed a partnership with Honda in 1984. Steady progress saw them return to race winning ways in 1985. However, it was during a pre-season test in 1986 that Frank Williams suffered a car accident that would change his life, rendering him a tetraplegic. Head took the reins while Williams recuperated, leading the team to more championship success in 1986 and 1987.
The loss of Honda engines to McLaren in 1988 resulted in a sudden decline before they returned to winning ways with Renault in 1992. The 1990s was the team's heyday, winning four drivers and constructors titles with Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve. However, the team's greatest asset at this time was their aerodynamicist Adrian Newey, reflecting the fact that Williams was always focused on the speed of its cars rather than paying through the nose for expensive drivers. Indeed, the team never won two championships with the same driver, famously sacking Damon Hill after he sealed the championship in 1996.
Sacking Hill proved to be the team's undoing, with a disgruntled Newey opting to leave the team for McLaren for 1998. This was a loss that Williams has so far failed to recover from, with the team failing to win any more championships in the intervening years despite having the best engines in the early 2000s with BMW. Aerodynamics had been the team's main weakness since then, resulting in the end of their partnership with the German car manufacturer in 2006.
The Williams family eventually sold the team to investment firm Dorilton Capital in 2020. This firmer financial footing has seen the team show signs of progress after their nadir in 2019 where they scored just one point. Under the stewardship of new team principal James Vowles, hopes are high as they head into the new era of regulations in 2026.