Which Engines Have the Most F1 Pole Positions?

Mercedes has been dominant in the 2026 F1 season, aside from some reliability issues with the power unit. Kimi Antonelli is leading the championship comfortably, having won six of the 10 races so far this year.

On the other hand, his teammate, George Russell, has won twice this season, giving Mercedes eight wins in 10 races. The team also has been perfect on Saturday, taking pole position each time.

On Saturday at Spa-Francorchamps, Antonelli took his sixth pole position of the season and the 258th pole for a Mercedes engine, the most in F1 history.

Yes, Mercedes engines have the most poles in F1 history, surpassing Ferrari at the 2026 British GP. Ferrari engines have 256 poles, with Renault in third place with 213 (the only other brand with more than 200 poles).

Breaking down Mercedes Engines' Pole Positions

Of course, Ferrari remains the constructor with the most pole positions in F1 history, with 254. Mercedes, dominant as a constructor in the mid-1950s, walked away from F1 after the 1955 Le Mans tragedy and only returned as a works team in 2010.

However, Mercedes engines powered McLaren to three World Drivers' Championships between 1998 and 2008 and also supplied power units for the team's 2025 championship with Lando Norris.

Moreover, McLaren has achieved 98 poles and 99 wins with Mercedes engines.

Mercedes, as a constructor, has 153 poles (third-most in F1 history). The other Mercedes-powered poles came from Brawn GP (five in 2009, also winning the Constructors' and Drivers' titles), Force India (2009 Belgian GP), and Williams (2014 Austrian GP).

Mercedes engines have participated in 621 races, achieving pole position 41.5% of the time. On their side, Ferrari engines have been part of 1134 races and have qualified first in 22.5% of those events.

In terms of race wins, Ferrari engines still lead the table with 251 wins, ahead of Mercedes' 246.

Mercedes Engines F1 snapshot

See also: the F1 all-time archive on F1-Fansite.

About the author

Victor R.

Victor R. López is a Venezuelan journalist from Tumeremo who focuses on Formula 1 and motorsport. He covers driver news, race weekends and key stories from across the sport for F1-Fansite.com.

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