Formula One: Midfield Battle Heating Up between Mercedes, Renault and Force India
McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari are not the only teams with stakes in the current Formula One season. Some other teams also have high hopes from the current season, and finishing behind the top three would be very encouraging for them. We have already seen some mixed performances from these teams. In some races they exceeded expectations while in others they were simply dominated.
The current Constructors’ Champions Mercedes GP, despite not being in a position to challenge the Red Bulls, McLarens or Farrari. And despite falling short of their expectations, have reset seasonal objectives and are looking on course to beat the likes of Renault, Williams and Force India. Mercedes GP outclassed their rivals in the first half of the previous season but in the second half Red Bull, Renault and McLaren posed enough threat to their championship hopes.
In an attempt to make sure that Mercedes GP do not miss out on the titles, they worked hard until the very end of the season to make it possible. This left them with very little time to make preparations for the 2010 season. A shaky start to this season was not well received by the team and drivers and they had to settle for less than the championship race.
2010 has been a mixed season for Mercedes GP. Nico Rosberg has been the pick of their drivers with a qualifying high of 2nd position on the grid and claiming 3 podiums for the team so far this season. Schumacher’s performance has been lackluster with only 36 points against his teammate’s tally of 90. Schumacher has not been a threat in qualifying so far and is yet to be on the podium in 2010.
The team’s drivers were not too happy with the progress following a few 'run of the mill' performances lately. Rosberg was under the impression that the car will improve with time but his disappointment was evident after Valencia. He will surely have something to cheer about after he managed a few very fast laps on his way to the podium at Silverstone.
Schumacher has let his former boss Jean Todt down, after he put forth another less than impressive show on Sunday. Schumacher started 10th and finished 9th and offered little resistance to whoever tried to overtake him. But the team would be thinking that if Rosberg can do it then so can Schumacher, and they can hope to get more and more points from each race.
Renault is next in line with 37 points off Mercedes. The difference between the two cars on track is much less than Mercedes GP’s lead. Robert Kubica is the only driver who is keeping Renault up there as his teammate Vitaly Petrov has finished in points only once in his 10 outings. 83 out of 89 points have been earned by Kubica and his unfortunate retirement in Silverstone allowed Rosberg to go past him in the drivers’ championship.
The Silverstone GP turned out to be a disaster for the Renault team, with Petrov finishing 13th and Kubica retiring after running behind Webber and Hamilton in 3rd position. Renault will however try to come strong in the latter half of the season and will put up a good battle to gain 4th place in the constructors’ championship.
Kubica recently extended his contract with the Renault team and is very eager to have Kimi Raikkonen onboard with him for the next season.
Following Renault and Mercedes GP in championship is Force India who have made a huge improvement from their previous seasons and have made it a habit to finish each race strongly with a good number of points. Adrian Sutil has outperformed his teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi, both in qualifying and in the race itself. With two experienced drivers Force India has performed really well this season and have been a challenge for Mercedes GP and Renault to overcome.
So far they have 17 races finishes with only 3 retirements. At their current rate of progress they will be strong contenders in the championship.
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