Mercedes (Formula International

**Mercedes-Benz EQ FI Team** is the works team of Mercedes-Benz in Formula International and the works team of the manufacturer since the shutdown of their Formula Earth venture. Having debuted in Formula E in 2019, Mercedes started very strongly in Formula International, winning back to back titles in 2021 and 2022 by Rory Douglas and Nicholas Latifi. Ever since, the team has failed to win a single title but always stayed a relevant force within the frontrunners and midfielders, also having several drivers that they would become stars in their ranks, such as Christian McGonagall, Felix Neurether, Ness Muller and Andrei Aimansha driving for them. From 2035 onwards, Mercedes-Benz has been focusing on their FI venture after selling their succesful FE team to Muller, but from 2032 already the team was in decline, sliding down in the midfield and as of now they have dropped in the backmarker group.

## Origins and Formula E History

Mercedes-Benz had expressed an interest from 2017 to be involved in Formula E, following their tremendous success in Formula 1. They managed to make their unnoficial debut through affiliates HWA Racelab, who raced for only a single year with Venturi engines. After this and the restructuring of the motorsport ladder, Mercedes took over and rebranded the team into their current name, with HWA being appointed as main operators of the team.

## 2020-2022: The years of success

For 2020, the team signed German prospect and future star Ness Muller and Zimbabwean Mamadou Wang as the drivers. Muller started the season strongly, leading the standings after just 2 races, but this followed by a string of retirements mid-season and a late comeback and he finished 3rd in the standings in an impressive debut campaign for the team. However, Wang proved to be a liability, scoring only a single point compared to Muller's, 128, dropping the team to fifth in the team standings. Muller was transferred to Nissan for the 2021 season and newly drafted by the works team Felix Neurether was signed alongside Venturi star Rory Douglas. 2021 saw Mercedes winning both Formula 1 and Formula E, with Douglas winning the driver title and Neurether finishing second. Also, Neurether beat Muller by 2 points to secure and 1-2 in the standings. Both drivers would move to Formula Earth teams Sauber and Audi after this.

Following this, Mercedes signed Nicholas Latifi as a part of the Neurether deal and picked up exciting Jaguar starlet Christian McGonagall. The season saw Mercedes winning FI for a second succesive year, with Latifi finding his level in the second tier and winning his first ever title. McGonagall finished 5th on his first full season and helped the team win the double for a second succesive year.

## 2023-2027: Down to the midfield

Latifi moved to the newly created Racing Point team and the team signed Andelko Peric from Tesla Dragon. McGonagall impressed further and finished 4th, but Peric struggled and finished 8th with just 2 podiums in 16 races. Next year proved to be even worse as the team, with a new lineup being Roman Massey and Mario Leduc, fell down to the midfield, scoring just a single podium. Leduc was sacked from the team and was replaced with Tesla Dragon starlet Eugene Stanley, who had impressed during a substitute spell. Massey again pushed the team with 3 podiums while Stanley underachieved in his first ever full season in the series. The lineup was kept for 2026 and scored 3 podiums combined, with Stanley scoring his first podium too.

2027 saw a completely new lineup following the move of Massey to Nissan and Stanley to Haas. The new lineup was former Prema driver Kevin Buffon and newly appointed reserve driver for the works team Andrei Aimansha. The season saw the team moving up the ladder briefly, but failed to see any car on the podium.

## 2028-2030: Brief Resurgence

The lineup was kept for 2028 and saw improvements in the team's car. Aimansha scored his first ever career wins on a great year finishing fourth and Buffon finished behind him in fifth, although he failed to score a win and got an injury which caused him to miss the last 3 races. Malaysian youngster Shawn Yong scored a win on his debut and scored points on all of his 3 races. Both Aimansha and Buffon left the team, the former went on loan to Nissan and the latter was promoted to the first team. Simone Cimorelli and Jonathan Thor were signed as replacements. Cimorelli impressed, finishing 7th with a single podium, but Thor struggled badly and finished way down in 14th place.

2030 saw yet another new lineup, with Felix Neurether returning to the team for a second stint and Onni Korhonen signed from Virgin. Korhonen scored the team's only podium in the second race of the year while Neurether struggled to get back to his 2021 form.

## 2031-2035: Stuck in the midfield

Neurether was kept for 2031 and would be alongside Mercedes draftee and reserve driver Santino Andreoli-Richard, back then considered the hottest prospect in the world for a while. The team was stuck in the midfield and finished 6th in the standings, with the experienced Neurether beating Andreoli-Richard for 2 positions. The Frenchman was promoted to the first team and Kobus Botha was signed to partner Neuether. The experienced German managed to beat Botha, who showed flashes of speed. Neurether moved to Venturi for 2033 and Aidan McKay was signed. McKay impressed for the stagnant team while Botha struggled in the first half and was ousted in the end of the year despite improving in the second half. 2034 saw the team keep McKay and the team signed Miguel Angel Larrazabal Rojas on loan from the first team. The team was once again in the midfield with Larrazabal beating McKay. From 2035, the team became the full works team of Mercedes after former driver Ness Muller bought the departing works team and rebranding it to Allianz G2. McKay was kept for one more year and impressed a lot, while teammate and compatriot Casey King had a horrible season.

## 2036-2038: Decline

McKay was drafted by McLaren and immediately signed to the first team, while King was ousted after his poor debut year. 2036 saw the team regressing to the lower midfield, and the team signed Renault loanee Jose Earl and 2032 FI Champion Luca Amaral. Earl impressed on his debut year, while Amaral, who has been regressing ever since failing to get a drive in Formula Earth, struggled for consistency. Earl was loaned to newcomers Romagnoli and the team signed FC Champion Ziggy Zaggy. The team hit a new low in 2037, with Zaggy scoring the only point of the team, who had the worst car by raw pace. Amaral fared even worse, as he finished last in the standings, 5 years after winning the title for Nissan. Zaggy stayed with the team for 2038 and pay driver Alex Harvey was signed to replace Amaral. The team failed sto score a single point, beating Nissan, the other team that failed to register points, by best placements.

## 2039-present: Rebuilding

In 2039, with the team's future uncertain, the board decided to make changes, with former FC driver Karl Hans-Janik becoming the team's new principal, becoming the youngest team principal in the series's history at the age of 19. Also, Mercedes signed youngsters Giuseppe Rizzo and Benoit Gagnon on loan from Williams. Improvements came, with Rizzo scoring the team's first podium since a long time. The duo was retained for a second succesive season on loan, and Gagnon managed to score the team's first win in the new decade, scoring totally 59 points and finishing 14th. Rizzo on the other hand was unable to replicate the performances of 2039 and stayed in the back of the grid.

## Notable Drivers

* Ness Muller (2020)
* Mamadou Wang (2020)
* Rory Douglas (2021)
* Felix Neurether (2021, 2030-2032)
* Christian McGonagall (2022-2023)
* Nicholas Latifi (2022)
* Andelko Peric (2023)
* Roman Massey (2024-2026)
* Mario Leduc (2024)
* Eugene Stanley (2025-2026)
* Kevin Buffon (2027-2028)
* Andrei Aimansha (2027-2028)
* Shawn Yong (2028)
* Simone Cimorelli (2029)
* Jonathan Thor (2029)
* Onni Korhonen (2030)
* Santino Andreoli-Richard (2031)
* Kobus Botha (2032-2033)
* Aidan McKay (2033-2035)
* Miguel Angel Larrazabal Rojas (2034)
* Casey King (2035)
* Jose Earl (2036)
* Luca Amaral (2036-2037)
* Ziggy Zaggy (2037-2038)
* Alex Harvey (2038)
* Benoit Gagnon (2039-2040)
* Giuseppe Rizzo (2039-2040)