Mercedes at Monza
The Silver Arrows first tasted success in the forests outside of Milan in the 1950s, triumphing in both 1954 and 1955 with Juan Manuel Fangio in the ‘Type Monza’ closed-wheel W196 ‘Streamliner’ edition of the standard W196 racer.
In 2025, 70 years later, the specially modified vehicle would go on to become the most expensive Grand Prix car of all time when it sold for €51.155 million euros ($53.9m/£42.8m) at auction.
A statue of the Argentine and a standard W196 car was unveiled within the grounds of the circuit in 2004, to mark 50 years since that first Italian GP victory.
Monza would not only prove to be the final race of the 1955 season, but also the last for Mercedes in F1 as a works team until 2010. Victory was the ninth from 12 races the marque entered across its two seasons in the sport in the 1950s.
It would be nearly 60 years before the three-pointed star stood on the top step of one of F1’s most famous podiums again, when Lewis Hamilton triumphed in 2014.
That win kick-started a run of five in-a-row at Monza for the team up to 2018, all of which apart from 2016 – when Nico Rosberg took home maximum points – were claimed by Lewis.
In qualifying for the 2017 race, which took place during a rare heavy downpour, Lewis broke the all-time record for most F1 poles (69), which had previously been held by Michael Schumacher for almost 11 years.
Lewis broke another F1 record in 2020, when he achieved the fastest ever lap in F1 – clocking an average speed of 264.362km/h on his way to taking another pole in W11.
A year later, the team claimed its first-ever F1 Sprint win when Valtteri finished the shortened format race in P1 in his W12.
In 2022, George collected his maiden Italian Grand Prix podium with a P3 finish, whileKimi’s first taste of an FP1 rookie session saw him get behind the wheel of W15 in front of his home crowd in 2024.
In addition to the seven wins as a works team at Monza, Mercedes has achieved six further triumphs as an engine manufacturer at the track, including with the Brackley-built Brawn GP car at the hands of Rubens Barrichello in 2009.
David Coulthard (1997), Juan Pablo Montoya (2005), Lewis (2012), Fernando Alonso (2007), and Daniel Riccardo (2021) are the other drivers to achieve an Italian GP win powered by Mercedes, all with McLaren.
Did You Know?
Mercedes has recorded seven wins at the Italian Grand Prix. Two with Juan Manuel Fangio in 1954 and 1955, four with Lewis Hamilton and one with Nico Rosberg.
George won races at Monza at both GP3 (2017) and Formula 2 (2018) levels.
In 2019, Fred came home from Monza with a P1, P2, and P3 finish as part of his FRECA campaign, and won again in F3 in 2020.
During his first F2 season in 2022, the Dane managed a pair of P2s.
Last but not least, on home soil Kimi has won twice at Monza in the junior formulae.
The first came on his way to the Italian F4 title in 2022, and the second a year later during his championship-winning FRECA season.