Better Late than Never — Connor's D2 pairing gives Mercedes a place to start

Mercedes have returned to the Season 8 fight with a team that looks capable of causing trouble in D2, and a recruitment list that still stands between them and a serious BOTT challenge.

When we published the season preview, Mercedes were providing reserve capacity. Connor now leads a six-driver squad. The earlier article's nine-team table has acquired a tenth team to consider, just before Singapore begins a season with only ten rounds to get the operation working.

The timing puts immediate pressure on the empty seats. Mercedes have no signed D0 driver, one vacancy in D1 and another in D3. Recruiting those four cars will decide whether Connor is managing a few competitive weekends or building a team capable of climbing the overall standings.

D2 gives Mercedes an established partnership to build around

Connor and Pooldiver both raced D2 last season. That makes their pairing the most convincing part of this late entry: neither is asking Mercedes to discover how a lower-division record survives promotion.

Connor completed all 12 of his D2 starts, scored 93 points and took two podiums. Pooldiver added 61 points from ten appearances, ending the season second in Brazil after starting 11th. Together, their previous campaigns supplied 154 points in the division they will race again.

That being said, we wouldn't bet the house on that Season 8 prediction. The field has changed, particularly with jhazztan and pwjones moving down from L1 to lead Williams' D2 challenge. But Mercedes have two drivers who know the level, have reached its podium and can give Connor a competitive starting point without waiting for somebody else to sign.

Their strengths are different. Connor's completed season offers the steadier foundation; Pooldiver's Brazil result shows a bigger return is available than most of his earlier weekends delivered. His two non-finishes at Baku and Japan are the part that needs to disappear.

Winning the D2 constructors' championship would require a substantial improvement against several well-equipped pairs. Regular points and occasional podiums are a more defensible opening target. They would also give Mercedes a way to interrupt the leading BOTT teams before the rest of the squad catches up.

Six signatures leave four scoring opportunities open

Mjonr22 has no established official IMS race record with which to judge the D1 assignment. The same is true of Pengu in E3. They could improve this team's outlook quickly, but neither can yet support a confident points forecast.

Sacizo's two D3 appearances both ended with a finish and produced two points. The sample gives Mercedes a starting reference, with almost the whole competitive assessment still ahead of him. A strong second signing would help that division; it would not remove the need for Sacizo to establish his own weekly return.

Edvon supplies E3's more familiar half. His nine official D4 starts last season all ended with a finish, and Las Vegas brought third from 15th. That race contributed 19 of his 32 points. Mercedes have evidence of a podium weekend, but need much more from the ordinary ones if E3 is to become a sustained team strength.

The new opposition complicates the comparison. E3 shares the L3 pool with D3, so finishing the old D4 races does not by itself establish a strong E3 score. Edvon brings experience and a useful finish record. Pengu's first results will show what the second car adds.

The old Mercedes titles belong to a different line-up

Mercedes won the Season 7 D0 constructors' championship with cloud taking the drivers' title. Cloud and Raptorr now race for Aston Martin, whose D0 pairing led our original forecast.

Connor inherits the Mercedes name, not that pairing's points. With both current D0 seats empty, this is the clearest difference between last season's champions in the fastest division and the squad approaching Singapore now.

A late recruit can still change the assessment sharply. D0 offers two entire contributions that Mercedes have not secured, while a second D1 driver would stop mjonr22 carrying that division alone. Those signatures would strengthen the team more directly than asking the established D2 cars to compensate for every vacancy.

That is why placing Mercedes in a revised numerical BOTT table now would promise too much. The original forecast assumed full campaigns from named drivers and gave vacancies no points. Four open cars and two signings without an official race record leave too much of this squad undecided for an equivalent ranking.

Our opening judgement is simple: D2 can make Mercedes competitive on individual weekends, while the current squad gives little reason to expect a BOTT title challenge. Recruitment can improve that view; Singapore will begin testing it before Connor has much time to settle into the job.

The first pair is ready. The next four signatures decide how much of a team stands behind them.