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Top Three Constructor Teams in Formula One

The Formula One championship boasts of a 59-year old legacy and offers the most pulsating and exhilarating action both on and off the track. The “down to earth” vrooming beasts that race against time have always set the pulses racing and no other event has the capacity to match the excitement F1 generates. Almost all the big names in the car industry figure in the list of team owners, who either set up their own teams or buying out existing ones, to spice up the sport with their engineering marvel and glamorous sobriquets. They are the real masterminds who tame the brute monsters to set the tracks on fire with speed.

Various car make/engine combinations are regarded as different constructors for the purposes of the Championship. Constructors' Championship points are determined by the points scored by any driver for that constructor. It has happened only on 10 occasions that the World Driver’s Champion didn’t belong to World Constructors' Champion team.

Till date, the car racing event has seen 12 brand names winning the coveted World Constructor’s Award since the inception of such an award in 1958. Here we present you 3 constructor teams that have won the title for most number of times in the descending order.

Ferrari

Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, Ferrari is the most successful team in the history of the Championship with 16 titles under their belt. This includes the six consecutive titles they won in 1999-2004 season, thanks to the wheel-maverick -- Michael Schumacher. The team also enjoys the unique status as the only still-active team which competed in the first F1 world championship race which was held at Silverstone, United Kingdom in 1950 with their 12-cylinder, 1.5 L Tipo 125.

The “Prancing Horse” galloped into the history with their first Grand Prix win at Britain in 1951. Then there was no looking back and till date they have marauded 209 Grand Prix. But they had to wait until 1961 to place their hand on the Constructors’ trophy for the first time with their famous ‘shark nosed’ Ferrari 156, designed by Chiti.

After three years, the team decided to pull out of sportscar racing to concentrate upon F1 and signed John Surtees, who had established his mark in the motorcycle-racing career. He helped the team to grab its second constructors’ title with the team’s new Ferrari 312T.

The team got stiff competition in the form of Lotus, Tyrell, and McLaren in 1960’s and early 70’s. And after a break of 11 years they recaptured the elusive title once again in 1975 and replicated the feat three years in a row.

After the lean years of 1980’s and major part of 90’s (It managed to grab only 3 titles in this period), during which McLaren and Williams dominated the circuit, Ferrari made a stunning comeback. With legendary Schumacher behind the wheels, Ferrari set a world record by romping home the constructors’ title for six consecutive years.

With the retirement of Schumacher, Ferrari again starved for titles till Kimi Raikkonen helped them lift the Constructors title.

Williams F1

Frank Williams was not the man to be demotivated by failures. After a riot of unsuccessful outings with his Frank Williams Racing cars, he moved out to rebuild his team as "Williams Grand Prix Engineering" in 1977. They raced the very same year debuting at Spanish GP but had to end the season without scoring a single point. But from this humble beginning the team marched on to post 113 Grand Prix victories.

Williams have joined hands with many engine manufacturers in their long tryst with Formula 1. However, the most successful was with Renault, winning five of their nine constructors' titles with the French team.

It was in 1980 that they grabbed their first constructors' title scoring twice the points its nearest contestant garnered. They continued their winning momentum in the next year and won the title for the second consecutive time. They replicated the same feat of winning the title two times in a row in 1986 and 1987.

The early 1990s were the glorious period of Williams. The Williams FW15C was the dominant car, with active suspension and traction control systems beyond anything available to the other teams. They clinched a hatrick by winning 1992-95 seasons. At the 1997 British Grand Prix, Canadian Jacques Villeneuve won the team's 100th race, making Williams one of only three teams in Formula One, alongside Ferrari and fellow British team McLaren, to win 100 races.

From then on F1 history saw the unbelievable re-emergence of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari and the team could not compete with their prowess and is still waiting for a title.

McLaren

Founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren, Team McLaren is one of the most successful teams in Formula One, having won 162 races, 12 Drivers' Championships and 8 Constructors' Championships.

The team made its Grand Prix debut at the 1966 Monaco race. Battered by poor and underpowered engines, the team failed to win a constructor's title until 1974. However the team kept on experimenting with the engines which resulted in the development in the mechanical front. These even helped the team's drivers to win titles, let alone a constructors’ championship.

The constructors' title drought ended in 1974 when the team achieved their first Formula One World Constructors' and World Drivers' Championship (with Fittipaldi). Though they came close in 1976, the team went back to a lull and it was in 1984 that they came out of the slumber.

Mounted on a revolutionary McLaren MP4/2 chassis, the first F1 chassis made entirely of carbon-fibre composites, which proved very strong when mated to the TAG/Porsche turbo engine McLaren-Porsche won the Constructors' title in 1984 and 1985. McLaren did not win the Constructors' Championship in 1986, although the team won the driver's championship.

McLaren lured Honda from Williams and the combine, McLaren-Honda MP4/4, won an amazing 15 of 16 races in 1988. The next year, using a new 3.5 L naturally-aspirated engine designed by Honda, McLaren again won both titles with the McLaren MP4/5. Internal strife hit the team after this and one of its key drivers left the team. Nevertheless, McLaren continued to top Formula One for the next two seasons clinching both Drivers' and Constructors' title.

The rise of Renault powered Williams saw the team losing grip over the championship. It had to wait until 1998 to win back the title. Though the team could not lift the title since then, McLaren introduced a rookie to the Formula 1 world who eventually became the youngest ever to win the Formula One Driver's Championship.

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