The team that finished fourth in the constructors’ championship last year is fourth again, and looks likely to finish the season in that position. That team also happens to be one of the most illustrious and successful in the sport. One of its drivers is one of the greatest in history.

For the moment, then, neither the team, Mercedes, nor its star driver, the seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, have quite lived up to their comeback hopes. Both continue to believe, however, that the future will prove their critics wrong; and as the team rebuilds and improves, there is little reason to doubt that.

Last year was the first time since 1955 that a Formula One team had run solely under the name of Mercedes. The German car manufacturer had been out of elite racing since an accident at the 24 Hours of Le Mans involving one of its cars killed more than 80 spectators. Mercedes returned as an engine provider in the early 1990s and then became partial owner of the McLaren team.

But it returned as the majority owner of the reigning world champion team, Brawn, last year to race under its own name with the silver cars it calls the Silver Arrows, in line with the team’s tradition in Grand Prix racing.