Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Summer break report - Mercedes and Renault






Mercedes and Renault started the year with high hopes of breaking into the top three, Mercedes having switched early to working on their 2011 car and Renault hoping a radical design coupled with momentum from a strong finish to 2010 would see them step up a level.

The black-and-gold Renaults got off to a flyer, taking two podiums in the first two races and clocking up 30 points as the silver arrows of Mercedes netted a total of just two points for Michael Schumacher's seventh place in Malaysia.

Since then, however, Renault have wobbled and Mercedes have slowly overcome them to take a 14-point advantage in the standings - but neither team is where they wanted to be, with Ferrari, who are at the back of the front-running trio, now on more than three times the points of Renault and Mercedes some 135 points behind.