It seems the midfield have largely been ignored as the spotlight falls on the 'Big 3' at the front and the 'Little 3' at the back. So here is my take on the remainder of the field.
[bg=#CCCCCC]Mercedes[/bg] - Unfortunately for Mercedes, they make this list. They never were at the pace of McLaren or Red Bull, and only really excelled Ferrari at Istanbul. Nico Rosberg has been consistently picking up points, with 3 excellent podiums thrown in, but he's essentially doing an embossed version of the role he did for Williams last year. They lie 4th in the Constructors' Championship in no man's land between Renault and Ferrari, and Schumacher has been unimpressive.
[bg=#FFFF00]Renault[/bg] - It seems unfair to categorise Robert Kubica as a midfield runner. His podiums in Australia and Monaco have been excellent and he is the only driver not in a Red Bull to reach Q3 in every race. He is up ahead of Massa in the Drivers' Championship. Based on this, and Renault's blemished history regarding second drivers, it is difficult to judge Vitaly Petrov. The Russian's only points came in the wet Chinese GP, but he has been unlucky not to score more in Turkey for example. However, he has not been near his team-mate at any point. Kubica has contributed most of the points total that gives Renault a WCC 5th place.
[bg=#FEFEFE]Force India[/bg] - Although the Force's qualifying performances have dipped of late, Adrian Sutil has been hanging around the minor points places at every race in the European season thus far, in addition to an excellent fifth place borne of the qualifying confusion in Malaysia. However, Vitantonio Liuzzi is not quite good enough to consistently join him and is surely treading water until being replaced with the promising Paul di Resta for next season. Though Force have scored in all but the Chinese race, on current form maintaining 6th from Williams looks a difficult task.
[bg=#0000BF]Williams[/bg] - Williams started the season poorly, picking up the minor points on a few occasions. Most of that work was done by Rubens Barrichello, who has consistently been their better driver. However, at the last two races, Williams have returned to the position they were at 12 months ago, with Barrichello taking a few big points hauls. Though Hulkenburg hasn't been slow, points have been difficult to come by for him, with only two so far. If form continues, they're unlikely to stay 7th, but they have difficult opponents ahead.
[bg=#FEFEFE]Sauber[/bg] - The season started with great difficulty for Sauber, who seemed unable to get cars to the finishing line. Their reliability has picked up of recent weeks however. They've spent a lot of time losing out in Q1, but there have been some excellent breaks into Q3 from Kamui Kobayashi, and at the previous race by Pedro de la Rosa. Kobayashi picked up their first point in Turkey, and got lucky (although he was excellent) in Valencia, but his performance at the British GP was exemplary. Kobayashi accounts for all their points, and they are one of the teams on an upward trend.
[bg=#6000BF]Toro Rosso[/bg] - Red Bull II have predictably dropped off the back of all the other 2009 teams on pace, especially since they are no longer allowed to make near-carbon copies of the RB6. They are the only team save for the newbies to have not reached Q3, and the pace has not been there largely. However, both Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi are point scorers, Alguersuari impressing in Malaysia and acting as Michael Schumacher's viewpoint on many occasions! Buemi scored three points finishes in Monaco (where STR seem to score quite often), Europe and Canada where he was particularly impressive. Toro Rosso may be the back of the 9, but they're not entirely unimpressive.
[bg=#CCCCCC]Mercedes[/bg] - Unfortunately for Mercedes, they make this list. They never were at the pace of McLaren or Red Bull, and only really excelled Ferrari at Istanbul. Nico Rosberg has been consistently picking up points, with 3 excellent podiums thrown in, but he's essentially doing an embossed version of the role he did for Williams last year. They lie 4th in the Constructors' Championship in no man's land between Renault and Ferrari, and Schumacher has been unimpressive.
[bg=#FFFF00]Renault[/bg] - It seems unfair to categorise Robert Kubica as a midfield runner. His podiums in Australia and Monaco have been excellent and he is the only driver not in a Red Bull to reach Q3 in every race. He is up ahead of Massa in the Drivers' Championship. Based on this, and Renault's blemished history regarding second drivers, it is difficult to judge Vitaly Petrov. The Russian's only points came in the wet Chinese GP, but he has been unlucky not to score more in Turkey for example. However, he has not been near his team-mate at any point. Kubica has contributed most of the points total that gives Renault a WCC 5th place.
[bg=#FEFEFE]Force India[/bg] - Although the Force's qualifying performances have dipped of late, Adrian Sutil has been hanging around the minor points places at every race in the European season thus far, in addition to an excellent fifth place borne of the qualifying confusion in Malaysia. However, Vitantonio Liuzzi is not quite good enough to consistently join him and is surely treading water until being replaced with the promising Paul di Resta for next season. Though Force have scored in all but the Chinese race, on current form maintaining 6th from Williams looks a difficult task.
[bg=#0000BF]Williams[/bg] - Williams started the season poorly, picking up the minor points on a few occasions. Most of that work was done by Rubens Barrichello, who has consistently been their better driver. However, at the last two races, Williams have returned to the position they were at 12 months ago, with Barrichello taking a few big points hauls. Though Hulkenburg hasn't been slow, points have been difficult to come by for him, with only two so far. If form continues, they're unlikely to stay 7th, but they have difficult opponents ahead.
[bg=#FEFEFE]Sauber[/bg] - The season started with great difficulty for Sauber, who seemed unable to get cars to the finishing line. Their reliability has picked up of recent weeks however. They've spent a lot of time losing out in Q1, but there have been some excellent breaks into Q3 from Kamui Kobayashi, and at the previous race by Pedro de la Rosa. Kobayashi picked up their first point in Turkey, and got lucky (although he was excellent) in Valencia, but his performance at the British GP was exemplary. Kobayashi accounts for all their points, and they are one of the teams on an upward trend.
[bg=#6000BF]Toro Rosso[/bg] - Red Bull II have predictably dropped off the back of all the other 2009 teams on pace, especially since they are no longer allowed to make near-carbon copies of the RB6. They are the only team save for the newbies to have not reached Q3, and the pace has not been there largely. However, both Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi are point scorers, Alguersuari impressing in Malaysia and acting as Michael Schumacher's viewpoint on many occasions! Buemi scored three points finishes in Monaco (where STR seem to score quite often), Europe and Canada where he was particularly impressive. Toro Rosso may be the back of the 9, but they're not entirely unimpressive.
