They started off with a poor car in testing, and supposedly turned things around at the final test, though I'm sure running lower fuel played a part in that. Before the season even started, Michael Schumacher ruled himself out of the championship and declared that the aim this year was to win races. Sadly, it doesn't look likely that Mercedes will even get close to winning this year, and the same applies to Ferrari unless they suddenly find significant improvement under their new Technical Director. If the last 2 seasons are anything to go by, ever since they cut the number of their employees, they haven't had the brains in their design team to compete with the likes of McLaren and Red Bull. Ferrari have the same problem currently. Despite the Mercedes being a "fundamentally good" car, it looks too far off the pace to catch up. They made a significant step forward in China, which was mainly due to setup. They also looked very competitive in Turkey - at least in qualifying. Still, it was enough to worry a Ferrari fan! Now that Barcelona has highlighted Mercedes' aerodynamics weaknesses, and it doesn't look good for them. I fear that in Monaco, the superior traction of the Renault and Ferrari will have Mercedes struggling for a place in Q3, and in further races to come, I don't see them having anything other than the 4th fastest car. They had an alleged Renault-exhaust and RB flexible wing coming, which hasn't arrived yet, if it ever will. They say they have potential, but I'm not sure it will be enough. What do you think about Mercedes and their chances in 2011?
Might have a shot at Canada, Silverstone or Italy but that's it IMO. Korea and Abu Dhabi could be few more... Another sad year for Mercedes fans like myself, all talk and no walk from that camp.
Difficult to say. At that level (so far behind Red Bull) things can turn about race to race. Mercedes could mount a challenge to Ferrari from time to time, or fall behind Renault. McLaren appear to be a little way ahead - in the 'doomed to be runner-up' bracket. If things don't improve/change in the next two races then Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault need to start thinking about 2012. In which case it doesn't matter about 2011 for them.
I reckon Mercedes would push more so than the likes of Ferrari and Renault though this season. They are still a team developing as a whole and they need to see how fast the can develop the car and see what areas they are struggling with majorly before they even think of taking on the "big 3" full time year after year.
I think Mercedes and Ferrari will both be very strong in Montreal, and maybe this weekend in Monaco. Bit early to be writing their seasons off. I think Mercedes potentially have a very good car there, the F150 looks a bit conservative, but if Ferrari can get their low fuel pace close to their high fuel pace (comparatively speaking of course) they could be very strong as well. I can't see either challenging the title though.
Unless there's some massive change for both of them after Canada there's no chance. Even if they do a 2010 it still won't be enough to catch up.
This is the point in which the team need to decide what they want to do, go forward and push for success this season? Or like last year bail out and start over?, whichever way it's gonna hurt Mercedes again.
Absolutely, Absolutely, under normal circumstances but with Vettel and Red Bull rampant and McLaren starting to look like runners-up how much longer do they wait before deciding there's not much to play for. They could probably get third and fourth places without much effort.
The thing is, if Red Bull continue to take all the wins, McLaren will be unable to pull away because of how the points system is, so second is still a three horse race, while first looks like a two horse race (I think McLaren will, and have started to, come back at Red Bull). Another factor is that there's no major regulation changes next season, so a lot of the developments they bring to the car this year can be carried forward into next. They'd be in a much better position next season if, for example, they got a flexible front wing working in the middle of this season.
I would agree we have reason to be cautiously optimistic about McLaren and that, in contrast, there's only so much headroom for Red Bull to improve performance but I also think Button and Hamilton will take points away from each other while Webber (regardless of team orders) will find he can't live with Vettel this year. I think there's actually a good chance the two teams will pull away from the pack but it's only conjecture. Good point about the 2012 regs re Ferrari and Mercedes. I guess they won't freeze this year's car and start concentrating on a new one. Perhaps there will be some risky or aggressive developments that don't pay off, though (like rear wing extensions).
