Mercedes 2011 F1 Review

It was a bit of a surprise to most people when Mercedes decided to get back into the ring of F1. They’ve been out of the sport since 1955, and while it seemed like a good publicity ploy, it brings with it a risk of doing things wrong. Thankfully they took on a ready-made team from Brawn – previously Honda – with a record breaking performance in 2009 under their belts. So how did 2011 pan out for them?

Schumacher had a lot to prove after his disappointing comeback in 2010, and the first race of the season didn’t allow him much opportunity. The Australian GP ended with both he and Rosberg knocked out due to accidents in the later laps. The follow up in Malaysia allowed Mercedes to at least get on the board, with Schumacher finishing 9th and gaining the first points of the season despite a poor qualifying lap. Rosberg in contrast only managed 12th, doing little to alleviate concerns about the team.

As the season moved on things began to fall into place for the team. Schumacher got what he needed in Canada with a 4th place finish and a running place of 2nd for much of the race. The chance to shine for Rosberg came in the Brazilian GP finish, but he only managed 7th despite a promising start, while Schumacher came in at 15th. This ended the season with Mercedes in 4th place with 165 overall.

Renault and Mercedes were at loggerheads again for the contested 4th place position, with the top three left to the real contenders once again, and again Mercedes came out on top. Schumacher needs to nail more qualifiers, with too many missed Q3s. He came 8th overall at 76 points, while team mate Rosberg came in 7th place at 89 points. At leas they got through this one without colliding with one another.

The MGP W02 Mercedes engine is fine, but given that there’s so little difference between the thrust of the teams these days it doesn’t really mean much to compare what they have under the hood. The thing that will decide 2012 will be, as usual, the drivers. And at the moment Mercedes’ lead men aren’t showing much spark.

Find some rare Mercedes parts online instead of searching throughout the scrap yard.