Top F1 teams in the Horner era

5. Renault/Lotus/Alpine

‘Team Enstone’ makes this list on the basis of form that is fast becoming a distant memory. In its Renault guise, Fernando Alonso led the team to back-to-back championships in 2005-06, but we’ve placed it below McLaren because it’s been slim pickings ever since. Alonso’s contribution makes up the lion’s share of Enstone’s 21 wins since 2005. The Räikkönen/Lotus-badged era in 2012-13 was an all too brief revival. In Alpine blue there’s been a single win: Esteban Ocon’s opportunistic victory in Hungary in 2021.

4. Ferrari

It’s still by far the most successful F1 team given its continuous presence since 1950 (248 wins to McLaren’s 198). But in the past two decades, Ferrari has been reduced to best-of-the rest status. Just three of its combined 31 world titles have been earned since 2005: Kimi Räikkönen’s drivers’ crown in 2007 along with a constructors’ title following McLaren’s ‘Spygate’ disqualification, and another teams’ honour in 2008. The wins since 2005 stand at 76 – far short of Mercedes and Red Bull.

3. McLaren

The at-times desolate barren spell between 2013 and ’21 accounts for McLaren’s overshadowed position in our top five – although, of course, it’s making up for lost time now. The 2024 constructors’ title was the team’s first since 1998, with either Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris currently on course to become McLaren’s first drivers’ champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008. The wins and poles count since 2005 is at 60 and 57 respectively, but happily for anyone who loves this reinvigorated F1 grandee both are rising almost by the week.

2. Red Bull Racing

His critics hate to give him any credit. But the fact remains that under Christian Horner’s watch Red Bull emerged from the shambles that was Jaguar to win six constructors’ titles and eight drivers’ crowns split between Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen. Its main rival over the past two decades, Mercedes, was born from the title-winning one-season entity that was Brawn GP. Red Bull won its first GP in 2009 during Brawn’s short lifespan, Mercedes its first since 1955 in 2012. The score between them in this era is 124 wins for Red Bull, 121 for Mercedes.

1. Mercedes-AMG

Going by world championships won, the Brackley and Brixworth-based works Mercedes team is officially the most successful of the past 20 years – but not by much. Its record-breaking run of domination from the start of the hybrid era in 2014 scooped 15 world titles (eight consecutive constructors’, six drivers’ crowns for Lewis Hamilton and another for Nico Rosberg), which is one more than Red Bull. But on grand prix wins for the period Mercedes actually lags just behind Red Bull, see 2. Then again, for how much longer? How the tallies between these modern-era big beasts evolve will hinge on outcomes from the new chassis and powertrain regulations which blast into force next year – and also perhaps on Max Verstappen’s choice on who he’ll drive for.