Mercedes

Last years world champions have been bought by Mercedes and turned into the first works Mercedes team for many years. With buying the Brawn team they have spent money on the top team in F1 that was struggling to keep up with the development of the others at the end of the season. I hope that they have put more resources in place to ensure that they can match that development pace this year.

The Car

The was designed last year during a most intense Championship battle and when the then Brawn team would have been frantically pushing through development on the race car to keep up with Red Bull. At the start of last year Brawn laid off a lot of staff to keep costs under control at the team and so I was concerned about how good the car would be. In testing so far it doesn’t seem that bad but it’s not up there with the Ferrari.

The Drivers

Michael Schumacher needs no introduction and it’s a testament to how impressive Mercedes must have made the Brawn outfit that Schumacher has removed his red overalls and returned to drive the car. His performance will be the most highly scruntinised this season and so the car needs to live up to expectations. With Nico Rosberg taking the wheel of the second Mercedes it’s a potentially very fast driver partnership, we’ll have to wait and see how it pans out.

Extra Details

Mercedes sold their massive stake in McLaren to buy the Brawn team and ensure it was the proper works team so let’s hope their investment is justifed. As the only manufacturer moving into the sport while the others are leaving it makes it doubly important that they succeed.

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