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s the cars head for the starting grid in Melbourne for this weekend’s opening round of the 2012 Formula One World Championship, it seems all eyes are being focussed on Red Bull, with the McLaren duo of Button and Hamilton considered as reigning champion Sebastian Vettel’s closest rivals.

However, I think that we might be missing something. One team has quietly been piling on the pressure in the past months and could well be aiming for a place on the Melbourne podium. I will even tip them for a win or two this season; Mercedes AMG Petronas.

Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn was remarkably candid when I spoke to him during pre-season testing in Barcelona. With the level of investment and engineering resources at his disposal, he simply considered that last year’s fourth place in the constructor’s world championship wasn’t good enough.

A single fourth place finish for Michael Schumacher in Canada was the best result the team could muster last year. With hindsight it seems that the team had gambled on a number of quite radical chassis and aerodynamic developments which simply didn’t get with the faster-wearing Pirelli tyres.

Last year’s Mercedes W02 was also an unwieldy tool, not least when it had a full fuel load early in a race.

It is to Michael Schumacher’s continuing credit that even though Nico Rosberg outqualified him in
all but one race last year, by the end of the opening laps, Schumacher had somehow manage to find his way ahead.

The good news is that this year’s car, the W03 looks a much more user-friendly racer. It also showed good consistency in its pace during “race simulations” during the pre-season tests.

In addition, Ross Brawn has attracted to the Mercedes team one of the best behind-the-scenes technical line ups in Formula One.

Mercedes technical director Bob Bell was ‘head-hunted’ from Renault at the start of last season and has a pedigree that includes working with Fernando Alonso in his two world-championship winning years.

Likewise 2011 recruit Jeff Willis has penned titlewinning designs for Williams, not to mention helping design America’s Cup-winning racing yachts and the latest recruit to the Mercedes design team is Aldo Costa, recruited at the end of last season from his previous job as technical director at Ferrari.

Not only has this team come up with a good car at the start of this season, they also clearly have the resources to maintain, or even move ahead in the development race as the season goes on. So, if Mercedes might be looking at winning races this season, the next obvious question is, which driver?

Despite Michael Schumacher’s 91 victories and seven world titles, I suspect that it will be Nico Rosberg who might grab the headlines with his maiden Grand Prix victory.

Much has been made of the younger German outpacing his more mature team-mate over the past
two years, with many pointing to it as a sign that Schumacher isn’t quite the driver he used to be. I think that is a disservice to both drivers not least Nico, still just 26. I rate him as a potential world champion.

In 2005, Rosberg became the inaugural GP2 series champion in fine style before moving to F1 with Williams. A year later Lewis Hamilton won the GP2 title with the same ART team, on his way to McLaren. Insiders at ART all agree that there was little to choose between the two in terms of skill and, technically Rosberg might even be a little smarter.

Of course, in order that either Mercedes driver reaches the top step of the podium, they have to beat an unprecedented line up of driving talent this season.

For the first time in Formula One history, six world champions will line up on the starting grid. Joining Schumacher, are Vettel, Button, Hamilton, Alonso and of course the returning Kimi Raikkonen. It is set to be one of the most exciting and close fought seasons ever.