Mercedes GP: After an absence of 54 years, Mercedes returned to F1 for the 2010 season to race in their traditional silver colours. 

In itself that was incredibly exciting news for F1 fans, made even more fantastic that the return results from purchasing a share in the 2009 double champions Brawn, and thereby securing the services of the master of all that is F1, Ross Brawn. The news for all true F1followers was capped by the announcement that the seven time world champion, Michael Schumacher was coming out of retirement to race for Mercedes, with fellow German Nico Rosberg taking the other seat.

To secure the return of Schumacher was a masterstroke for Mercedes, he is the towering great of his generation, his win record of 250 races with 91 victories is only bettered in percentage terms by Jaun Manuel Fangio who competed in far fewer F1 races - 52 starts 24 wins. His return generated huge interest, and whilst Michael had nothing to prove, (his achievements remain untarnished), many debated the wisdom of his return at the age of 41 after an absence of three years. Schumacher's performance in 2010 was disappointing, he was bettered by his teammate and seemed unable to impose his presence in the way he had in years past. The performance of the car was further cause for concern throughout the 2010 season. Mercedes took over the championship winning team, Brawn, and in the pre-season it was widely anticipated that they would be competitive with Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull, however, the team were a distant fourth and were off the pace even after technical upgrades to the car.

Mercedes GP facts and stats
 

Mercedes was a highly successful pre-war, pre-F1 race team. They first entered F1 competition mid season 1954 at the French GP with the 1951 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio transferring to the team from Maserati. Incredibly, the team had immediate success and recorded a 1-2 victory with Fangio winning and then going on to victory in three more races in 1954, winning the Championship. The team went on in 1955 to dominate the season; Fangio winning the championship again and team mate Stirling Moss finishing second. (The F1 Constructors' championship was not introduced until 1958).

The 1955 season was overshadowed by disaster at the Le Mans 24 hour race: Mercedes sportscar driver Pierre Levegh crashed into a crowd of spectators. Levegh was killed and over 80 spectators died with more than 100 others injured. (It was the worst loss of life in any motor sport event). Mercedes withdrew from motor sport, including Formula 1, at the end of the season.

Mercedes renewed association with F1 began in 1993 as unofficial engine supplier to the Sauber team, a partnership which was made official the following year. In 1995 Mercedes brought a substantial, but minority stake, in McLaren and supplied the engines. (McLaren won three Drivers' championships and one Constructors' championship between 1995 and 2009 with cars powered by Mercedes engines). In 2009, Mercedes began supplying additional engines to the Brawn GP and Force India teams; Brawn won both championships.

Mercedes purchase of Brawn GP at the end of 2009 is the latest in a number of transformations of a team that can be traced back to the Tyrrell Racing team, (1970-1998). In 1999, the team changed ownership and became British American Racing in partnership with Honda, that became in 2006, the Honda Racing Team. Honda withdrew from F1 at the end of 2008, and it seemed that the team operations would cease. However, team boss, Ross Brawn put together a management buy-out, with financial support from Honda, and re-branded the team Brawn GP. The team's engines were supplied by Mercedes, and the existing driver line up of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello demonstrated pragmatism, loyalty and faith in accepting large salary cuts.

Brawn had an amazing season, a real phoenix from the ashes; it seemed that the romance of F1 had returned. Button was majestic in the early season winning the season opening race in Australia and then a further five of the next six races. The mid season saw other teams close the points gap, but both Button and Brawn went on to seal the Drivers' and Constructors' World Championships in the penultimate race in Brazil. It was the first time in the sport's sixty-year history that a team won both titles in its maiden season. 

Ross Brawn, Michael Schumacher, Mercedes, in the same team was, and remains a fabulous prospect.  In his prime Michael would outperform the rest of today's paddock, however, in 2010 he was far from his prime; his season best results were two fourth place finishes, (Turkey and Korea). Rosberg performed better, he was on the podium three times, (Malaysia, China and Britain), and beat Schumacher in 14 of the nineteen race season, finishing with almost double the points in seventh place to Schumacher's ninth.

Schumacher and the team seemed to quickly accept that 2010 was to be a building year, and that his return was based on a three-year strategy to win the championship. It is difficult to dismiss any of Schumacher's driving predictions; it would be remarkable and fantastic for F1 fans if he could compete with the front runners in 2011. Indeed, Fernando Alonso said that he still considers Schumacher his greatest challenge, such might just be mind games with other drivers, but it seems entirely plausible that Alonso's statement would be an accurate reflection of the sentiments of many of the drivers.   

 

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