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• Ferrari and Mercedes are tied on six consecutive constructors' wins apiece.
• Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton can both rewrite F1 history in 2020.
• Red Bull won four championships on the trot between 2010 and 2013.
• For more motoring stories, go to www.Wheels24.co.za
Ask anyone who they think the most successful Formula 1 team in history is, and chances are that they'll name Ferrari. Whether they are fans of the sport or just heard something in the passing by, Ferrari became F1 and vice versa.
Over the sport's 70-year history, Ferrari has won the Constructors' championship for a record 16 times! Williams, the slowest and worst-performing team on the current grid, managed the feat nine times, followed by McLaren on eight.
Mercedes? Well, they've won it six times. And yes, all of them in the last six years.
But how many of these championship wins came consecutively? And who rules the roost when it comes this part of the record books?
Sebastian Vettel driving his Red Bull at the 2013 Brazilian GP (Mark Thompson / Getty Images)
Ferrari - 6 consecutive wins
Ferrari's golden years came at the start of the new millennium. It started the year before, in 1999. From then until 2004, Ferrari ran riot in F1 and dominated every season with Michael Schumacher at the wheel. McLaren, Williams, BMW, and others all tried to mount a challenge to stop the Italian team in their tracks, but with little luck.
While breaking records, Schumacher would win five of his seven titles during this time, and Ferrari cemented themselves as the team of all teams.
Michael Schumacher wins the 2004 French GP (Christian Fischer / Getty Images)
Mercedes - 6 consecutive wins
In 2014, F1 entered a new hybrid era, and the only team who's been dominating since its inception is Mercedes. In the build-up to 2014, the German automaker did its research on the new era and built a car as best they could. In 2013, Lewis Hamilton joined the team, and in 2014 the partnership began bearing fruit.
Bar 2016, Hamilton has led Mercedes to double championships every year, with the team securing six championships in the process. Currently tied with Ferrari on six consecutive season victories, Hamilton and Mercedes are on course to win their respective seventh championships. In doing so, Mercedes will top Ferrari, and Hamilton will tie with Schumacher on the number of drivers' championships.
Lewis Hamilton driving the 2020 Mercedes F1 car (Formula 1 / Twitter)
McLaren - 4 consecutive wins
A mistake we should never make is to judge McLaren on their pace the last few years. In the overall standings, McLaren ranks third with its eight constructors' championship, four of which came consecutively between 1988 and 1991.
Driven by two of the all-time greats, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, the won in both 88 and 1989, before Prost moved Ferrari and Senna was partnered by Gerhard Berger for the other two championship-winning years. These years were also the driving force behind Honda returning to the sport in 2015, in a bid to rekindle their championship-winning ways of yore.
And as we all know, the reunion failed to deliver any success.
Ayrton Senna driving in the rain at the 1988 Hungarian GP (Paul-Henri Cahier / Getty Images)
Red Bull - 4 consecutive wins
Double diffusers and Sebastian Vettel. That's just one of the reasons why the period between 2010 and 2013 will be remembered. Oh, and Red Bull winning four championships on the trot, of course. Hot off the heels of his first career win at Monza in 2009, Vettel joined Red Bull in 2010. By the end of their first season together, Vettel and Red Bull won both championships and would continue to do so until the end of 2013.
With head designer, Adrian Newey, always penning the 'perfect' car, there was no stopping the energy drinks company. Red Bull had wings, and no team could hold a candle to their dominance. Though Ferrari and Fernando Alonso came close in 2010 and 2012, they never could smoke the cigar the way Red Bull did.
Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull celebrating victory at the 2013 Brazilian GP (Clive Mason / Getty Images)
Williams - 3 consecutive wins
If you know your F1, you will point out that Ferrari also won three consecutive championships between 1975 and 1977. But because they are already on the list, we opted to acknowledge their achievement and give the fifth spot to Williams.
Between 1992 and 1994, Williams won three championships. In 1992, one of the team's drivers, Nigel Mansell, also won the drivers' championship, but a dispute with team owner, Frank Williams, saw Mansell depart from the team. In 1993, Williams had a new driver pairing of Alain Prost and Damon Hill, with Prost winning the drivers' championship with the team following a sabbatical the year before.
In 1994, Prost departed from the team when the announcement came that Senna, his bitter rival, would be joining the team. Hill continued with the team and helped secure that year's constructors' championship. Sadly, Senna would succumb to injuries sustained at that year's Imola Grand Prix.
Nigel Mansell at the 1992 Belgium GP (Paul-Henri Cahier / Getty Images)
