Boss, Ross Brawn of Mercedes GP, recently did state that his team would be aiming for a car that would win them a Championship in the coming 2013 season. Currently, Mercedes GP, performance wise, are still struggling against top teams in F1 racing.
Realistically and factually, the team knows that producing a winning car in just a year isn’t achievable, but believe they’re heading in the right direction.
Ross Brawn says Mercedes GP intended to get better each successive year, and it’s clear that they’re not satisfied yet. He told the previous year they came 4th, and the result appears to be the same this season too. He told their next step would be to fight for a 2nd or a 3rd spot and then aim for a title in the year 2013.
Currently, the team’s in a strong 4th position in the overall constructors’ table. This means the car is better than other cars running in the circuit, but is still being outpaced by the top teams like Red Bull, Ferrari or McLaren. A lot of progress can be seen looking into the fact that they’re indeed the best among cars that are running from 5th to the bottom of the constructors’ table. Mercedes GP have to focus on evaluating certain things that would make the car challenge the top cars on the track. They need to be doing major improvements in the coming months.
Ross Brawn says Mercedes GP are aware of the challenges when competing in F1 and that’s the reason they wanted to prove that they were capable of facing challenges and succeeding. He told F1 racing was the most complicated and competitive championship, and says if winning was that easy, racing would not have been so interesting.
In 2009, the team’s first name was BrawnGP, and the team went on to secure both constructors’ and drivers’ titles. It was a spectacular achievement indeed given that the 2009 season was their debut. Jenson Button was the driver who won the title for BrawnGP, which did help him ease his way into McLaren when Mercedes took over BrawnGP and made Ross Brawn as Team Principal and christened the new team as Mercedes GP pulling Rosberg and former champion Michael Schumacher into their team that saw Schumacher signing a 3-year contract, racing again, after a long break from racing. Barrichello was Button’s teammate in BrawnGP, and he made a switch to Williams when Mercedes took over BrawnGP. BrawnGP was formed when Honda decided to walk off from F1 necessitating the takeover.
The fans wholeheartedly supported BrawnGP and expected a lot from Mercedes GP, but the progress from Mercedes GP has been inconsistent so far, and it’s all about consistency that wins championships, and the top teams must and should be very consistent in order to achieve their goals in F1. Mercedes GP still have to show that consistent run, fans are eager and awaiting, perhaps next year or in 2 years we could really see the team running with major improvements in their car.
Mercedes GP is still working hard and struggling to keep up the pace with top teams, and with a determined workforce they have in their armoury, they can easily achieve that and probably even spring a surprise next season.
Both Rosberg and Michael Schumacher are really doing a good job this year. While some pundits may say Schumacher’s run out of gas after a long break from racing, it’s untrue as we recently saw his true racing prowess at Monza where he kept Hamilton at bay for nearly half the race. Rosberg was unfortunate to have been taken down by Liuzzi in the opening corner ending his race at Monza, but Schumacher really lived true to his spirits in Italy showing what he could really do. He was, however, forced by Brawn to allow Hamilton to overtake him as Schumacher was trying to block Hamilton’s path for some time. Michael Schumacher might have erred in a couple of races this season with his aggressive driving and inconsistent performances, but nonetheless the old horse still has the passion for driving, and with a good car next season, who knows would be doing better than he’s right now along with another German as teammate in Nico Rosberg whose father was a great racer too.
Lastly, Brawn needs to re-think what he did at BrawnGP to make Mercedes GP that successful. Winning a championship in their debut, BrawnGP had a great prospect before Brawn was made to run the team under Mercedes GP. Mercedes as we know supply engines to teams in F1 most notably McLaren Mercedes and Force India Mercedes. The idea about starting their own team with a couple of German drivers namely Schumacher and Rosberg is not bad after all with the brains Ross Brawn has and the experience he carries in F1 racing. The former and Benetton and Ferrari man, Ross Brawn, is indeed the right man to carry Mercedes GP to greater heights.
With Brawn admitting that consistency was the key for success, it’s wise of him to really say they’d be gunning for a 2nd or probably a 3rd spot next season and go ahead and gun for the title in 2013. F1 racing is a process of developing and researching on a continuous basis, and in 2 years’ time, we can be hopeful of Mercedes GP grabbing their first Championship hopefully with Schumacher and Rosberg if they’re still on the track and racing hard as ever.
