Saturday: Mercedes makes progress but Schumi is angry
After showing promising form in China, Mercedes confirmed their performance during Free Practice 3 at the Turkish Grand Prix when Michael Schumacher was just one thousandth of a second behind Vettel's Red Bull. However, the German, although he qualified for Q3 for the first time this season, faltered during his qualification, while his teammate, Nico Rosberg, secured 3rd place on the grid, the pole position of the 'others'.
Nico Rosberg – 4th and 3rd
« I am very happy with our performance in qualifying and it’s fantastic to see where we are now. After a difficult start to the season, we are getting closer to the front of the race, and I am pleased that we are making progress every weekend: thanks to the whole team for the tremendous work they have put in so far. We have saved a set of soft tires for the race, which will be important in terms of strategy. I am looking forward to tomorrow.
Michael Schumacher – 2nd and 8th
« That being said, I am not at all happy with our qualifying today. It’s just strange, it was like the more I pushed during my lap, the worse it got. I was on the edge of what I could do with what I had in my hands but the car just slipped away and I could never find my rhythm. It’s really a shame after the encouraging practice this morning.
Ross Brawn
We are pleased with the solid progress we have made over the past few races. At the beginning of the season, we said that the car had more potential than we were able to extract from it, and we are now proving that this was true. There haven’t been any major changes; the team and the drivers have simply kept their composure and worked hard to make the most of our package. I now hope that we can have a good race.
