Reader Rights: The history of teams dominating in F1

When you read a lot of comments on GrandPrix247.com you get the feeling that you have two camps of people when it comes to dominance in Formula 1.

The one camp believe that dominance is a thing that happened rarely, the other camp believes it is a regular occurrence in the sport.

My own belief is that it is something that has happened on a regular bases in F1, but that is just the feeling I have. I decided to go and have a look at the history of F1 and see how many teams have actually dominated F1.

When I looked at the history of F1 I notice that only four teams have truly dominated F1 in its history.

Firstly I have to explain my definition of a team that dominates. It is a team that have won the Formula 1 Constructors' title three or more times consecutively. The reason I decided on three consecutive titles is that two consecutive titles is the norm but three consecutive titles is rare.

Ferrari

Ferrari first dominated F1 in the 1970's with wins in 1975, 1976 and 1977. In these three years Ferrari won a total of 16 out of 47 races (34%). Ferrari could not dominate F1 again till the late 1990's when they won a record six constructor titles in a row, starting in 1999 and only ending in 2004. In these six years Ferrari won a total of 63 out of 102 races(62%). Ferrari also had two periods where they won titles consecutively: 1982 to 1983 and 2007 to 2008

Williams

While Williams only had one occasion where they won more than three consecutive titles 1992 to 1994. I have to point out that they also won in 1996 and 1997. From 1992 to 1994 Williams won 26 out of 48 races(54%). Williams also had a three periods where they won titles consecutively: 1980 to 1981, 1986 to 1987 and 1996 to 1997.

McLaren

McLaren dominated Formula 1 for four years 1988 to 1991, wherein they won a total of 39 out of 64 Races (61%). McLaren had only one other period of winning consecutive titles, 1984 and 1985

Red Bull

Red Bull dominated Formula 1 from 2010 to 2014. It is remarkable that they dominated F1 in such a short time. Red Bull entered F1 in 2005 and only took six years to become a dominant force. From 2010 to 2014 Red Bull won a total of 41 out of 77 races (53%).

Based on my criteria of 'dominance' in the 57 years that the World Constructors Championship history existed, only the above mentioned four teams have dominated the sport. These years of dominance accounted for 20 constructor titles (35%).

Out off 136 teams that have competed in F1, only 15 teams (11%) have won the title. Only five teams have won the title more than twice. These Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and Williams have won 44 (77%) out the 57 world titles to date.

The only conclusion I could came to is that F1 is a sport where team dominance is the norm.A F1 team's dominance is rarely more than three years in a row. We might get a few years in between where no teams dominate.

But what is clear - if history is anything to go by - we can be sure of one fact that one of the big five teams will dominate the sport sooner rather than later.