Saturday: It’s close between Rosberg and Schumacher!
Strong performance by both Mercedes drivers in qualifying. While Rosberg could have aimed higher, Schumacher struggled with KERS issues throughout the entire session.
Nico Rosberg – 6th and 7th
«We didn’t really get the most out of our performance today, which is really unfortunate in qualifying. The track temperature dropped during the session, and it became more difficult to get the tires to the right temperature. On my second run in Q3, I had too much traffic in front of me to heat the tires sufficiently, and that’s what I lacked on my fast lap. Otherwise, I think we could have been better. However, I’m on the good side of the grid, and it should be a fun race.»
Michael Schumacher – 10th and 8th
« It was quite tight today. I had to abort my last lap in Q1 to save fresh tires for the rest of the session. Apart from that, it was a normal qualifying session, where we probably couldn’t have done better. I also expect a nice race and we will try to make the most of the opportunities that come our way. The tires shouldn’t be a big problem here, and we tested their behavior during yesterday’s practice, which took place in the same weather conditions as the race. The fact that the track temperature will drop during the race could be good for us as we are struggling a bit with tire temperatures here. »
Ross Brawn – Technical Director
It was a pretty straightforward qualifying session for us today with both of our drivers, and the team did a very good job. There was a small top speed difference on Michael’s car, which hampered his pace compared to Nico. So we need to understand what happened. Otherwise, we are in good shape for the race, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
