Which mid-running team is the best until the European Grand Prix 2011?
Before getting into the debate regarding the best ‘mid-running’ team of the 2011 Formula 1 season until the European Grand Prix, we must distinguish the top-running teams, mid-running teams and the back-running teams of the sport.
The top-running teams of the sport are those who challenge for the wins and podiums actively throughout the season with consistently. However, if a team is unable to challenge for the titles in a respective season, this does not make it a “mid-running team”
of the sport.
The back-running teams of Formula 1 are mainly those teams which are unable to challenge for points consistently which means that they secure points rarely every season or maybe even no points at all.
Mid-running teams on the other hand are those teams who challenge for points consistently throughout the season and in Formula 1, there are more mid-running teams than either back-running or top-running teams.
In the ongoing 2011 season so far, Lotus Renault GP and Mercedes GP are without any doubt the fastest mid-running teams of the sport as both of them are leading the rest of the teams by a noticeable margin but both of the teams are pretty close to each other
in terms of both pace and statistics.
Mercedes GP are currently in 5th place with 58 points while Renault are just 3 points ahead of them in the constructors’ standings. The points’ difference between Renault and Ferrari, which is one of the top running teams of the sport, is 68.
Other than these two teams, Sauber are looking pretty good as well as it is currently in 6th place in the constructors’ standings while their respective rivals Toro Rosso are currently in 7th place with 16 points.
Toro Rosso and Sauber have really outdone themselves as Sauber were disqualified in the first race of the season due to technical reasons and stripped off from a double point finish which was a huge blow to the team. Despite this disqualification, they are
looking much better than Force India and Williams who have been disappointing up until now.
Williams used to be a top-running/championship winning team of the sport but since the 2005 season, the team’s performance has deteriorated massively and in 2011, they are currently in 9th place with just 4 points in the constructors’ standings
while Force India are in 8th place with 12 points.
It seems that Williams and Force India do not have many chances of scoring as much points as Toro Rosso or Sauber who have been more consistent and fast in 2011. Toro Rosso have been updating their car quite actively at almost each race and their overall
performance has also been improving as they finished in 9th place in the 2010 season and this year, they are definitely faster than Williams.
Nevertheless, the two front running teams in the mid-field, Renault and Mercedes are quite close in terms of both pace and statistics. However, since Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher have been scoring some pretty good qualifying results and racing more
consistently, it seems that by the end of the season, Mercedes might finish ahead of Renault. More so because Renault are expected to lose some pace starting from the British Grand Prix as well as a result of the off-throttle Blown Diffuser ban.
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