Saturday: Rosberg ahead, Schumacher far behind
Mercedes, like Janus, presented two faces today: one smiling with Nico Rosberg's beautiful fifth place on the grid, the other grimacing with Michael Schumacher's accident that sends him directly to the depths, due to an as yet unidentified problem on the right rear wheel.
Nico Rosberg – 7th and 5th
It was a typical day in Spa today, and a difficult situation with the conditions constantly changing. Wet tires, intermediates, and dry tires: we had it all today but we got the most out of it. Two of the top 3 cars are starting behind me, which is nice to see. The team really had a good strategy and everything worked well today. I am confident of a good result tomorrow as we have set up the car with race conditions in mind. The car performed well in all conditions.
Michael Schumacher – 10th and 24th
« Well, obviously, I would have wished for my qualifying session to end differently today, but it’s difficult to drive on three wheels – even though I’ve tried the experience at Spa (editor’s note: in 1998, following his collision with David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher returned to the pits on three wheels). More seriously, it’s something that should never happen, but that’s also what Formula 1 is about; we’re working at the highest level but these kinds of things can always happen. First of all, I’m not sure what happened, I just felt that I lost the rear suddenly, which is why I immediately apologized to the team. But when I saw the wheel detached from the car, I understood why I lost control. If I have to find something positive, I’d say that I still have a few sets of new tires and there’s only one direction to go tomorrow: forward ».
Norbert Haug
Nico and the team delivered a good performance this afternoon. With good timing and an excellent lap, we made the most of the conditions with this fifth place – and Nico also qualified ahead of two title contenders. It’s really unfortunate for Michael, who lost his right rear wheel on the very first lap. We apologize to him, and we must investigate to find out what really happened. Like the spectators, Michael and we will look forward to tomorrow and we hope he can drive aggressively from the back of the grid for his anniversary race. Spa is a special circuit in Michael’s history – just as Michael is special in the history of Spa.
