Silver Arrows pointing in the right direction?

Two years ago, this team were World Champions, after resurrecting the abandoned Honda Team. They did do a brilliant job but, lest we forget, that car was designed by Honda with their multi-million pound input and years of experience. The slow tail-off in performance over 2009 highlighted Brawn's slip from the pinnacle once left to their own devices.

Last year, having been brought out by Mercedes, the slip continued, although they managed to be comfortably the 4th best team after the title contenders. Even with Michael Schumacher driving. And yes, that does still sound weird.

Schuey was disappointing last year. He's still a bloody good driver, but was comprehensively outshone by Britney in the other car. Princess Nico was very good though, and the car clearly didn't suit Michael. Things move fast in F1, and the lack of testing available clearly hampered the 7 times World Champ.

So 2011 is crunch time for Michael, Mercedes and, to a lesser extent, Rosberg. Michael needs to get back on top of his game straight away, or I can see him walking away from F1 for good. Mercedes need to prove they can cut it on their own (considering McLaren, who were having an off-season to some extent, still bettered them with the same engine) and Rosberg has to show he can still beat his illustrious team-mate.

First testing hasn't helped matters - KERS and other reliability issues have hampered their running time, and rumours that Mercedes are about to buy out Brawn's remaining 24.9% aren't helping.

It's an important year for Mercedes - silver arrows through the ambitions of the other teams, or blunted again.

(Accompanying this post are Sparks, with the weird, self-titled album from '72.)

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