Sunday: Mercedes GP needs to improve its race pace
Starting from third position on the starting grid, Nico Rosberg was likely aiming for better than a final 5th place. The German driver was even in second place after the first corner. Unfortunately, his fuel-laden W02 didn't spare his first set of tires. Nevertheless, the W02 seems definitively more competitive even though there is still work to be done before aiming for the top positions. Schumacher's race was disrupted as early as the second lap due to an incident with Vitaly Petrov's Lotus Renault. The seven-time world champion will not have fond memories of this Turkish Grand Prix.
Nico Rosberg – 5th:
«My start was fantastic and I was able to overtake Mark and place myself in second position on the first lap, but from there I struggled with my tires in the first stint. Our strategy worked well to get me back into a good position so we can be reasonably satisfied and I’m happy to be ahead of Jenson and just a few seconds behind Lewis. »
There is still a gap with the front, but we have continued to improve the car this weekend. We don’t know exactly why we are better in qualifying than in the race, but we are going to work on that. Overall, I had a good weekend and I’m looking forward to being in Barcelona.
Michael Schumacher – 12th:
Many fights and action today, that’s probably the positive part of my race. Obviously, I’m not very happy with my weekend, but I am responsible for the result. The incident with Petrov influenced my race. We were very close, and I was surprised that he touched me, but it was mostly my fault. What we can take away from this weekend in Turkey is that we have confirmed our good form and still have some new developments coming to help us make the most of our potential.
Ross Brawn
The balance we had on Nico’s car wasn’t as good as hoped with a lot of fuel, and the car was tough on the tires. This caused problems in the first half of the race, but in the second half, our pace was respectable. Nico began to climb back to where we wanted to be, but we were too far behind. Fifth place is a good result considering everything, but finding the right setup for the race must be our priority for upcoming races, especially on circuits where tire management is tricky.
Michael was out of contention due to his unexpected stop in the second lap, which left him with a difficult task, especially since a number of race events cost him time. Overall, we are moving in the right direction, but we are not yet where we want to be. We will keep pushing hard.
