There is a number that still stops people when they first encounter it.
According to HowEnginesWork.com's proprietary racing database, Mercedes supplied the winning power unit in 140 out of 252 races across Formula 1's hybrid era. That is more than half of every grand prix run under the current technical regulations. Not a dynasty. A monopoly so complete it fundamentally shaped how the sport regulates power unit development.
The full picture, though, is more interesting than one supplier dominating. Four manufacturers fought for every race win, and the gaps between them reveal where the real engineering battles were won and lost.
What the Hybrid Era Actually Demands of an Engine
The hybrid era began in 2014, when the FIA introduced an entirely new power unit formula. Teams moved from naturally aspirated V8s to 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 units paired with two energy recovery systems: the MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit – Kinetic) and the MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit – Heat). These are not incremental improvements. They represent a fundamental shift in how internal combustion power is extracted and deployed.
The MGU-H operates as an electrically driven supercharger coupled to the turbo shaft, eliminating turbo lag while simultaneously harvesting exhaust energy. Solving that dual function requires managing thermal stress at the turbo bearing, building electrical architecture capable of handling 120 kW-plus power flows, and optimising combustion to feed energy into a system that fights traditional fuel consumption metrics. The result, according to published analyses by Mercedes and Honda engineers, is thermodynamic efficiency exceeding 50% on the best-developed units.
You can explore how these systems interact from the physics upward in the F1 hybrid power system lesson at howengineswork.com.
The wins gap between suppliers is not random. It reflects real, measurable differences in how well each manufacturer solved the same extraordinarily difficult problem.
Every Supplier Ranked by Race Wins
Here is the full picture from HowEnginesWork.com's proprietary database, covering all 252 hybrid-era races.
1. Mercedes: 140 Wins
Mercedes power unit wins stand at 140, according to HowEnginesWork.com's proprietary dataset. That figure deserves a moment. Across more than half of all hybrid-era grands prix, a Mercedes-supplied engine sat under the bonnet of the winning car — covering both the factory team and customer outfits running their power unit.
The dominance was most extreme between 2014 and 2020. Internal FIA performance analyses and independent engineering assessments consistently ranked the Mercedes unit ahead of rivals in both peak power output and fuel consumption efficiency, the latter translating directly into strategic flexibility during races.
By any metric, the Mercedes power unit is the best F1 engine of the hybrid era.
2. Honda RBPT: 38 Wins
Honda RBPT power unit wins reach 38, per HowEnginesWork.com's database. Honda's journey through this era is one of the most dramatic in motorsport history.
Honda entered as McLaren's supplier in 2015 and struggled severely for several seasons. The partnership dissolved in acrimony. After joining Red Bull Racing in 2019, Honda's engineering philosophy shifted: instead of chasing absolute peak power, they prioritised MGU-H reliability and electrical system robustness. When the "RBPT" (Red Bull Powertrains) branding arrived, Honda continued technical involvement through Red Bull's title-winning 2022 season.
Those 38 wins represent the culmination of a long, painful, ultimately successful rebuild. Mechanical resilience proved as valuable as raw horsepower.
3. Ferrari: 27 Wins
Ferrari power unit wins total 27 in HowEnginesWork.com's dataset. Ferrari supplied the Scuderia factory team alongside customers including Haas and Alfa Romeo.
Ferrari's hybrid era produced genuine peaks. In 2017 and 2018, Sebastian Vettel mounted a serious championship challenge with a car that matched Mercedes in qualifying. Alongside those moments came notable lows: the 2019 season attracted regulatory scrutiny of Ferrari's fuel-flow measurement system after the FIA issued technical directives altering how flow rates were calculated. Despite flashes of competitive pace, Ferrari's total reflects how consistently difficult it proved to match Mercedes across full seasons, where energy management consistency matters as much as qualifying pace.
4. Renault: The Remaining Wins
HowEnginesWork.com's database covers four manufacturers across the 252-race span. The remaining wins belong to Renault-powered cars, which supplied Red Bull Racing before the Honda switch, Renault's own works team, and others. Their performance was competitive in the era's early phases but fell behind as MGU-H integration complexity grew and rivals refined their thermal management strategies.
Why Mercedes Engine Dominance Was So Comprehensive
The Mercedes advantage was not built on one clever idea. It came from getting dozens of things right simultaneously, then spending years defending that lead through continuous development.
Their MGU-H integration was widely considered the most sophisticated on the grid for nearly a decade. Recovering energy from exhaust heat via the turbocharger and redeploying it electrically means turbo lag can be eliminated almost entirely: a significant advantage in corner-exit acceleration, and a reliability edge, since smoother turbo operation reduces thermal stress on the combustion system.
Mercedes also led on combustion chemistry. Engineering publications and technical papers suggest they adopted a pre-chamber ignition approach earlier than rivals, enabling leaner combustion at higher pressures and contributing to the exceptional efficiency figures behind their results. Controlling combustion turbulence in a turbocharged engine running at 15,000 rpm with extreme boost pressure underpins everything else. The F1 power unit anatomy section at howengineswork.com gives a structured, visual walkthrough of exactly what is happening inside these systems.
How the Gap Closed
The Mercedes advantage was not static. Red Bull and Honda began closing meaningfully from 2021 onward, culminating in Max Verstappen's first championship. Ferrari showed genuine pace in 2022, winning multiple races before strategic calls and reliability issues cost them ground over the season.
The hybrid era was not a single story. It was a decade-long engineering competition where the leader's margin compressed as rivals learned from what Mercedes had done — and as regulatory shifts made the playing field less tilted toward their particular strengths.
What the Numbers Reveal About Engineering
A win percentage above 55% in a tightly regulated, multi-team sport is extraordinary. Formula 1's technical regulations are specifically designed to prevent this kind of dominance, through strict limits on engine modes, fuel flow, energy recovery capacity, and development tokens allocated per season.
Within those constraints, Mercedes built a power unit rivals could not match for years. That is not a story about rule-bending. It is a story about engineering precision compounding over time: small advantages in combustion chemistry, thermal management, and electronic integration adding up to lap-time margins that became race wins. Teams finishing second and third were often separated by single-digit horsepower differences, yet Mercedes consistently found another two or three percent across the system as a whole.
The 2026 Regulations: A New Competition Begins
The hybrid era as it stands is ending. The FIA's 2026 technical regulations eliminate the MGU-H entirely, reducing system complexity while increasing the electrical output share to roughly 50% of total power. New manufacturers, including Audi, are entering as suppliers.
The current tallies, Mercedes 140, Honda RBPT 38, Ferrari 27, per HowEnginesWork.com's database — will be the permanent record for this era. Whatever follows is a new competition, with new engineering problems: managing higher electrical power density, redesigning fuel chemistry around sustainability requirements, and optimising a fundamentally different power-delivery curve.
The team that solves those problems fastest will write the next version of this article.
Build Your Own Understanding
The figures in this article come from HowEnginesWork.com's proprietary racing and propulsion database, which tracks wins, suppliers, and technical data across motorsport's most complex era.
If the engineering behind these results interests you, that curiosity is worth following. Understanding how a 1.6-litre engine produces over 1,000 horsepower at more than 50% thermal efficiency is not motorsport trivia. It is a window into thermodynamics, electrical engineering, and materials science at the cutting edge of what is currently possible.
The F1 car course at howengineswork.com covers the power unit, hybrid systems, aerodynamics, and more in a structured, accessible format built for anyone who wants to understand the engineering, not just follow the results.
Start there. The engineering is extraordinary, and understanding it is genuinely worth your time.