Coordinates: 52°01′19″N 1°08′42″W / 52.021964°N 1.144899°W / 52.021964; -1.144899

Mercedes-Benz is currently involved in Formula One, running the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team based in Brackley, United Kingdom, using a German licence. Mercedes-Benz had competed in the pre-war European Championship winning three titles, and debuted in Formula One in 1954, running a team for two years. Mercedes-Benz returned as an engine supplier in 1994, and two constructors and four drivers championships have been won with Mercedes-Benz engines. The current team has been competing since 2010 after the purchase of Brawn GP. Mercedes have won two drivers championships and ten races as a constructor in Formula One.

After winning their first race at the 1954 French Grand Prix, driver Juan Manuel Fangio won another three grands prix to win the 1954 drivers championship, and repeated this success in 1955 when he won Mercedes' second title. Despite winning two championships Mercedes-Benz withdrew from motor racing as a response to the 1955 Le Mans disaster, and did not return until rejoining as an engine supplier in association with Ilmor. The return of Mercedes-Benz as a constructor has been with limited success, having achieved only one win, in the 2012 season. Mercedes' current drivers are Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, while Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains supply McLaren and Force India with engines.

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The "formula", designated in the name, refers to a set of rules with which all participants' cars must comply. The F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix (from French, originally meaning grand prizes), held on purpose-built circuits and public roads. The results of each race are combined with a points system to determine two annual World Championships, one for the drivers and one for the constructors. The racing drivers, constructor teams, track officials, organizers, and circuits are required to be holders of valid Super Licences, the highest class of racing licence issued by the FIA.

Formula One cars are considered to be the fastest circuit-racing cars in the world, owing to very high cornering speeds achieved through the generation of large amounts of aerodynamic downforce. Formula One cars race at speeds of up to 360 km/h (220 mph) with engines limited in performance to a maximum of 18,000 revolutions per minute (RPM). The cars are capable of lateral acceleration in excess of 5 g in corners. The performance of the cars is very dependent on electronics – although traction control and other driving aids have been banned since 2008 – and on aerodynamics, suspension and tyres. The formula has had much evolution and change through the history of the sport. Europe, the sport's traditional base, is where about half of each year's races occur. That said, the sport's scope has expanded significantly during recent years and an increasing number of Grands Prix are held on other continents.

Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton,MBE (born 7 January 1985) is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the McLaren team. He is the 2008 Formula One World Champion.

Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. In December 1995, at the age of ten, he approached McLaren team principal Ron Dennis at the Autosport Awards ceremony and told him, "I want to race for you one day ... I want to race for McLaren." Less than three years later McLaren and Mercedes-Benz signed him to their Young Driver Support Programme. After winning the British Formula Renault, Formula Three Euroseries, and GP2 championships on his way up the racing career ladder, he drove for McLaren in 2007, making his Formula One debut 12 years after his initial encounter with Dennis. Lewis Hamilton's contract for the McLaren driver development program made him the youngest ever driver to secure a contract which later resulted in an F1 drive.

Coming from a mixed-race background, with a black father and white mother, Hamilton is often labelled "the first black driver in Formula One", although Willy T. Ribbs tested an F1 car in 1986. He is also the first driver of black heritage to win a major race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in any discipline.

Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985 in Wiesbaden, West Germany) is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career. He holds dual nationality of these two countries.

Rosberg won the 2005 GP2 Series for the ART team, having raced in Formula 3 Euro Series previously for his father's team.

For the 2010 Formula One season, Rosberg joined the re-branded Mercedes team, formed by Mercedes' takeover of 2009 constructors' champions Brawn GP.

The son of Finnish 1982 Formula One World Champion Keke Rosberg and his German wife Sina, Nico spent much of his youth in Monaco with his family, and still lives in the principality. Rosberg speaks fluent German, English, Italian, Spanish and French but only a little Finnish, though he is learning the language. Rosberg competed under the Finnish and German flags at different times during his early career. In Formula One, as for all FIA world championships, a driver's nationality is defined by his passport. Rosberg races under the German flag in Formula One.

Michael Schumacher (German pronunciation: [ˈmɪçaʔeːl ˈʃuːmaxɐ] ( listen); born 3 January 1969) is a German Formula One racing driver for the Mercedes team. Schumacher is a seven-time World Champion and is widely regarded as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time. He holds many of the formula's driver records, including most championships, race victories, fastest laps, pole positions, points scored and most races won in a single season – 13 in 2004. In 2002 he became the only driver in Formula One history to finish in the top three in every race of a season and then also broke the record for most consecutive podium finishes. According to the official Formula One website he is "statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen".

After beginning with karting, Schumacher won German drivers' championships in Formula König and Formula Three before joining Mercedes in the World Sportscar Championship. After one Mercedes-funded race for the Jordan Formula One team Schumacher signed as a driver for the Benetton Formula One team in 1991. After winning consecutive championships with Benetton in 1994/5, Schumacher moved to Ferrari in 1996 and won another five consecutive drivers' titles with them from 2000 to 2004. Schumacher retired from Formula One driving in 2006 staying with Ferrari as an advisor. Schumacher agreed to return for Ferrari part-way through 2009, as cover for the badly injured Felipe Massa, but was prevented by a neck injury. He later signed a three-year contract to drive for the new Mercedes GP team starting in 2010.