For the past 100 years, Mercedes, then as Mercedes-Benz, came onto the Grand Prix scene like a blitzkrieg, devastating all comers almost immediately with advanced designs, superb technology, a lot of money and the best drivers available. Then they would disappear for decades while the mere rumors of a comeback struck terror into the Grand Prix constructors both before and after WWII.

Mercedes first made a huge impact on Grand Prix racing when they won the prestigious 1908 French Grand Prix. It was all quiet on the western front until 1914, when three Mercedes team cars walked over the highly favored Peugeots on July 4th; the French were soundly defeated and equally furious. A month later the French and Germans would be at war. A devastating defeat for Germany was followed by years of economic woes. No serious Grand Prix car would emerge from what was now Mercedes-Benz for the next 20 years.

In February of 1934, to conform to a new 750KG Grand Prix formula, Mercedes-Benz introduced the W25, a breakthrough design with a 325 hp supercharged engine and a rear-mounted 4 speed transaxle. Mercedes would dominate Grand Prix racing with the W25, the W125 and the W154. The Italians decided to alter the formula for the 1939 Tripoli Grand Prix to the 1.5 liter rules, a class in which both Maserati and Alfa Romeo had competitive cars. Since the Germans had no such race cars, the Italians assumed that they would finally be able to break the German winning streak in Libya. However, Mercedes built two cars, largely in secret. The cars finished first and second. “..the W165 Mercedes-Benz scored one of the most stunning and memorable wins in the history of motor racing. Italian cars and drivers were humiliated,” wrote Karl Ludvigsen.

Another war and 15 years would pass with virtually no participation from Mercedes-Benz in Grand Prix racing. But for the new 2.5 liter Grand Prix Formula, in 1954, Mercedes introduced the W196 streamliner and open wheel cars for the 1954 and 1955 season. After a few teething problems they once again walked away with the laurels in both years. Shock and awe, to be sure

Ironically, it was yet another tragedy of enormous proportions that caused Mercedes to totally withdraw from racing for another thirty three years. The Le Mans disaster caused the board of Daimler-Benz to reconsider its participation in racing; they also knew that there was little else to prove, having won both the sports car and F1 championships in 1955.

There was to be no roar from Daimler-Benz until January 1988, when they announced a return to racing, participating in the Group C Endurance events with Sauber. It was successful, with 16 out of 18 wins, but it was not Grand Prix. In 1991 it was decided to drop out of the WSC events and concentrate on GT racing. But in the backroom the boys were playing Formula 1 behind the curtain.

Neither shock nor awe but struggle
The WSC era was followed by a complex arrangement to assist with the creation of the Mercedes Ilmor motor and the Sauber chassis but resulted in no concrete successes. By 1995, an agreement with McLaren provided the Mercedes Ilmotor engine to Ron Dennis’ team. A breakthrough came in 1997, as David Coulthard won the Australian Grand Prix. This then was Mercedes’ first F1 success since Monza in 1955, but it was only a half win; the chassis was McLaren and even the Ilmor motor was engineered by Swiss Mario Illien and Brit Peter Morgan (the Ill and Mor of the name). In 1998, the McLaren-Mercedes won championships with Mika Häkkinen driving and in 1999 he did it again. Hamilton would take the McLaren-Mercedes to another world championship in 2008 and Button would manage another with the Brawn-Mercedes in 2009.

But the Anglo-German effort, as successful as it was, was not pure Mercedes. That would be remedied in 2010 when the full might of Mercedes-Benz got behind F1 and Ross Brawn along with that other guy they lost to Ferrari. Of course it is hard to tell where the 2009 Brawn ends and Mercedes begins. But since then it would not be shock nor awe but a difficult struggle to maintain position in mid pack. Mercedes was back in full, but no one was shaking in their Guccis.

The Race
The Chinese Grand Prix was an epic event in its own right. It was truly great seeing Rosberg and Schumacher one-two on the front row. Amazed at what appeared to be Schumacher’s giving way to Rosberg (orders?) we were saddened when he retired due to a loose wheel nut on Lap 13. It was even nice seeing a more or less proper Mercedes-Benz winning a Grand Prix once more. Rosberg did a superb job throughout the race, a well deserved victory. But it was his 101th Formula 1 race and only his first victory. Something here does not equate, but it may be part of the mysteries of F1 today. Y’just never know.

Perez (who led the race briefly on Lap 14) and Kobayachi were on right up front with the Sauber Ferraris. Sixty years ago these guys would never have made it this far…they are fearless and tough but would have been caught out by a tree, a bridge, or a lamppost.
Of course we’ve been harping for two years that Kobayachi should be given a good ride…lacking that at least the Sauber team has come up with a good ride themselves, moving from the back of the grid to the front, no doubt thanks in large part to their two tiger drivers. Could Sauber be the next Red Bull?

Everyone had written off Vettel and yet he worked his way up from 14th to second at one point, until caught in the high strung sprint race near the end. Still, he did well and still finished 5th. No one should write off Vettel yet for this year, it’s far too early.

The track at Shanghai appears to be as boring as the current crop of constipated circuits can be, but it nevertheless provided the most stirring driving and racing we have seen this year, perhaps in several years. With six World Champions on the track and cars that are as evenly matched as ever, the racing is awesome. Positions 2-8 changed so fast in the latter part of the race that it was impossible to keep up, even though everyone had their last tire change. We looked in vain for update positions on the screen and they too, seemed unable to cope with the place changes. By lap 48 Vettel was in second, with Rosberg still holding the lead. But the race between Button, who finished second, and Hamilton, 3rd and Weber who placed 4th was amazing. The fearless foursome pushed the aggressive Perez and Kobayashi down to midfield positions and left no doubt as to who was a World Champion and who was not.

So will Mercedes now continue on a winning streak as dictated by their tradition? Maybe, but that’s the fun of F1. Y’just never know.

BTW: Time and time again we have referenced all four of the books in the “Racing Color” series edited by Karl Ludvigsen. They are handy, very accurate, and allow us quick insights into what the Germans, French, British and Italians were doing in any given era. “German Racing Silver”, also written by Ludvigsen, was published by Ian Allan Publishing in 2009 and was a great help in writing this article. The poster and cutaway above also appear in the book.

Race Results

1	ROSBERG	Mercedes	1h36m26.929s
2	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 20.6s
3	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 26.0s
4	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 27.9s
5	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 30.4s
6	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	+ 31.4s
7	SENNA	Williams-Renault	+ 34.5s
8	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	+ 35.6s
9	ALONSO	Ferrari	+ 37.2s
10	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 38.7s
11	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 41.0s
12	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	+ 42.2s
13	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 42.7s
14	Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	+ 50.5s
15	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	+ 51.2s
16	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	+ 51.7s
17	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	+ 63.1s
18	PETROV	Caterham-Renault	+ 1 lap
19	GLOCK	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
20	PIC	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
21	DE LA ROSA	HRT-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
22	KARTHIKEYAN	HRT-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
23	KOVALAINEN	Caterham-Renault	+ 3 laps
24	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	+ 44 laps, wheel
Fastest Lap	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	1m39.960s

Note – Hamilton qualified second, but dropped five grid places as penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change. Vergne qualified 18th, but started from pit line following pre-race car changes.

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	45 Points
2	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	43 Points
3	ALONSO	Ferrari	37 Points
4	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	36 Points
5	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	28 Points
6	ROSBERG	Mercedes	25 Points
7	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	22 Points
8	Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	16 Points
9	SENNA	Williams-Renault	14 Points
10	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	9 Points
11	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	8 Points
12	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	7 Points
13	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	4 Points
14	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	4 Points
15	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	2 Points
16	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	2 Points
17	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	1 Point

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	McLAREN-MERCEDES	88 Points
2	RBR-RENAULT	64 Points
3	FERRARI	37 Points
4	SAUBER-FERRARI	31 Points
5	MERCEDES	26 Points
6	LOTUS-RENAULT	24 Points
7	WILLIAMS-RENAULT	18 Points
8	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	9 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	6 Points

Seriously, there were snippets shown to the world from the cameras mounted on the cars, stands were empty. Ticket sales were less than the number of 18-32 year olds that claimed to have slept with Paris Hilton. This was a very worrying sign for sponsors that have been asked to chip in millions of dollars (or pounds) to sponsor a car next year in a series that is in jeopardy of self destructing. While this is turning into a huge battle of egos, most people have forgotten that this is all about entertainment. The automakers can continue to spout off that they are doing this to improve technology and better their products, but at the end of the day, does one need to spend millions, if not billions of dollars so that you can get a Lexus with a “flappy paddle gearbox”? At the end of the day, F1 is about creating a sport that puts butts in seats and eyes fixated on the TV screen. Anything that jeopardizes this or minimizes the body count diminishes the value of the sport. It seems like most of the decision makers have forgotten this. It is not so much about ticket prices, it is about having a good show.

At least Le Mans is next weekend and some of us can watch real racing again.

Anyway, enough ranting.

Button drove to another win for the maiden F1 team, almost cementing their lock on both titles. Even with Vettel gaining pole, the Brit drove a clean race and ended up with a commanding lead. The timesheets at the end should not be read as a closer finish than it was, he backed off well before the last corner of the last lap. Even with the encouraging performance, the Brawn F1 car is remarkably devoid of sponsorship logos. Maybe the weak global economy has even scared fair weather fans from supporting the winning horse.

Vettel tried to switch strategies to running three stops after blowing pole, but the German never could get out in front or make up the times on the laps that he needed to succeed. In the end, Mark Webber would finish in second, and Vettel would get the last spot on the podium.

A 2-3 finish for Red Bull is still nothing to sneeze at. McLaren and Ferrari as still spending the GDP of small nations and can’t get that result. Nor can Toyota spending the GDP that could get them qualified as a G-12 nation…

The also-rans this weekend included Trulli in the Toyota, Rosberg in the Williams, Massa in the Ferrari, and the last two points paying positions went to Kubica and Glock. No Alonso? No Hamilton? Could it be that those two are also like Jenson Button in that they can only win when the car provides them the advantage?

Maybe I feel a little sorry for those asked to pony up $300 to watch this. It could have been worse, I guess. You could have been stuck watching the tape delay on Fox.

Race Results

1	BUTTON	Brawn-Mercedes	1h26m24.848s
2	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 6.7s
3	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 7.4s
4	TRULLI	Toyota	+ 27.8s
5	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	+ 31.5s
6	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 39.9s
7	KUBICA	BMW Sauber	+ 46.2s
8	GLOCK	Toyota	+ 46.9s
9	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	+ 50.2s
10	ALONSO	Renault	+ 62.4s
11	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	+ 64.3s
12	NAKAJIMA	Williams-Toyota	+ 66.3s
13	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 80.4s
14	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 1 lap
15	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
16	PIQUET	Renault	+ 1 lap
17	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	+ 1 lap
18	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferrari	+ 1 lap
19	BARRICHELLO	Brawn-Mercedes	+ 11 laps, gearbox damage
20	FISICHELLA	Force India-Mercedes	+ 54 laps, brakes
Fastest Lap	BUTTON	Brawn-Mercedes	1m27.579s

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	BUTTON	Brawn-Mercedes	61 Points
2	BARRICHELLO	Brawn-Mercedes	35 Points
3	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	29 Points
4	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	27.5 Points
5	TRULLI	Toyota	19.5 Points
6	GLOCK	Toyota	13 Points
7	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	11.5 Points
8	MASSA	Ferrari	11 Points
9	ALONSO	Renault	11 Points
10	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	9 Points
11	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	9 Points
12	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	6 Points
13	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	4 Points
14	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	3 Points
15	KUBICA	BMW Sauber	2 Point
16	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferrari	2 Point

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	BRAWN-MERCEDES	96 Points
2	RBR-RENAULT	56.5 Points
3	TOYOTA	32.5 Points
4	FERRARI	20 Points
5	McLAREN-MERCEDES	13 Points
6	WILLIAMS-TOYOTA	11.5 Points
7	RENAULT	11 Points
8	BMW SAUBER	8 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	5 Points

But Ferrari needed as many points as they could get, having achieved a grand total of three points in the first four F1 events of the season. Massa himself had yet to score any championship points.

Massa couldn’t go any faster; another miscalculation by Scuderia Ferrari meant that if he went fast enough to keep the Red Bull at bay, he would run out of gas. For whatever reason, using the electrically driven KERS power booster was no longer an option.

Massa’s plaintive cry spoke volumes about how far Ferrari has fallen since the idyllic days of the Brawn/Todt/Schumacher triumvirate. Of the three, Brawn now conducts the team which dominated the race, Todt has just retired from his position at Ferrari, and Schumacher stood by helplessly in the pits, unable to do much but long for the good old days. Massa would be passed not only by the Red Bull, but hometown boy Alonso would get by before the checker, leaving Massa to finish 6th, but in the points. Raikkonen had already retired, with unsaid problems which may or may not have been related to the KERS system.

For Barrichello, it was a return to the good old bad old days, as he once again has to play second fiddle to the number one driver. After comfortably leading the race for Brawn, he was out-strategized by his partner and, once again, Jenson Button took the victory. And such was the race, with no real surprises; after the Brawns, Mark Webber took the first Red Bull to a podium and Vettel found fourth; McLaren Mercedes faltered even further at the end of the pack, relegating the World Champion to an also-ran.

The results this year have shown that with a few keystrokes to the rules word document, the Formula 1 grid can be turned upside down. In the past five years, Formula 1 has been dominated by Ferrari, Renault and McLaren. But it is difficult to assume that the underdog teams will continue to lead the field. Brawn still lacks multiple sponsors; Red Bull has come a long way but money and talent will out. Once Ferrari, Renault and McLaren figure out how to best take advantage of the new rules and KERS, it is likely that they will again be at the front of the grid. Already, Ferrari has shown improvement. As race winner Jenson Button remarked, “Ferrari are closing very, very quickly. They’ve been competitive and they’re one to watch over the next few races, for sure.”

Getting a kick outa KERS

This year we have KERS, slicks and a diffuser design, perfected by the Brawn team but obviously not yet fully understood by the rest. Cloak and dagger techniques abounded on the starting line where even Ferrari techs were trying to keep stray cameras from looking up skirts. But it’s the KERS that will, as the season progresses, make the biggest difference; diffusers are nice but there is a large margin for improvement in the KERS and that’s where the most gains will be made. This year, and next, will be part of a KERS learning curve and those who have it installed already will have the edge. According to Chris Ellis, “For 2009 and 2010, the FIA is limiting the output of the KERS to 80bhp (strictly speaking, 60kW), to drive the rear wheels only, but the only input permitted is from regenerative braking.

“The FIA also limits the total amount of energy that can be output per lap to 400kJ. This translates practically to less than seven seconds of an additional 80bhp per lap, which doesn’t provide much of an edge. Seven seconds is a lot less than the total braking time per lap for most circuits, which stretches to over 20 seconds in the dry at Monaco, considerably more if wet. This means efficiency won’t matter much in 2009 and 2010, but it certainly will when KERS get serious in 2011.The proposed regulations for 2011 and beyond are much more interesting, and also very relevant to road cars. Peak KERS output is permitted to rise to 268bhp (200kW), and can be applied to the front as well as to the rear wheels.” (Read more about KERS)

So far this season, however, any KERS use has been either ineffective or troublesome. It is also very obvious that both McLaren and Ferrari are not exactly straddling front row grid spots nor are they gaining any advantages once underway.

It may in fact be a long season for the monied teams. They sure don’t like the £40 million season cap on spending proposed by the FIA. On Tuesday, Ferrari threatened to depart from Formula 1 (for the umpteen-millionth time) at the end of this season unless governing body the FIA changes rules surrounding its proposed budget cap for 2010.

No one ever said it wasn’t a circus. See you at Monaco.

Race Results

1	BUTTON	Brawn-Mercedes	1h37m19.202s
2	BARRICHELLO	Brawn-Mercedes	+ 13.0s
3	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 13.9s
4	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 18.9s
5	ALONSO	Renault	+ 43.1s
6	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 50.8s
7	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	+ 52.3s
8	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	+ 65.2s
9	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 1 lap
10	GLOCK	Toyota	+ 1 lap
11	KUBICA	BMW Sauber	+ 1 lap
12	PIQUET	Renault	+ 1 lap
13	NAKAJIMA	Williams- Toyota	+ 1 lap
14	FISICHELLA	Force India-Mercedes	+ 1 lap
15	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	+ 49 laps, hydraulics
16	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 59 laps, gearbox
17	TRULLI	Toyota	+ 66 laps, accident
18	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	+ 66 laps, accident
19	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferrari	+ 66 laps, accident
20	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	+ 66 laps, accident
Fastest Lap	BARRICHELLO	Brawn-Mercedes	1m22.762s

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	BUTTON	Brawn-Mercedes	41 Points
2	BARRICHELLO	Brawn-Mercedes	27 Points
3	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	23 Points
4	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	15.5 Points
5	TRULLI	Toyota	14.5 Points
6	GLOCK	Toyota	12 Points
7	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	9 Points
8	ALONSO	Renault	9 Points
9	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	6 Points
10	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	4.5 Points
11	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	4 Points
12	MASSA	Ferrari	3 Points
13	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	3 Points
14	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	3 Points
15	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferrari	1 Point

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	BRAWN-MERCEDES	68 Points
2	RBR-RENAULT	38.5 Points
3	TOYOTA	26.5 Points
4	McLAREN-MERCEDES	13 Points
5	RENAULT	9 Points
6	BMW SAUBER	6 Points
7	FERRARI	6 Points
8	WILLIAMS-TOYOTA	4.5 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	4 Points