Saturday: Rosberg economical, Schumacher unlucky at Mercedes
The qualifying sessions follow each other but are different for the Star brand. In China, they dominated the front line, but now must settle for a fifth place by Nico Rosberg on the grid. While the recent Grand Prix winner in Shanghai can boast about saving a set of soft tires, his illustrious teammate can only lament the damage from a faulty DRS that left him stuck in Q1.
Nico Rosberg – 1st and 5th
Overall, I felt very comfortable during these qualifications. Despite this, as we focused on our race pace, there is always a compromise to be made in terms of settings. I think I am in a good position for the race. I am the only driver in the top 5 with a set of new soft tires, which could be very useful on this circuit. It will be very important to drive carefully and to find the right way to manage the tires during the race, as the conditions will be very challenging.
Michael Schumacher – 5th and 18th [17th on the grid]
« I am obviously very disappointed to have qualified in 18th position on the grid for a race that seemed competitive for us. Unfortunately, in my first lap, which seemed quite good, my DRS broke in the last sector. We tried to fix it in the garage, but we couldn’t go back out. Attempting a lap without DRS with different tires would have made no sense. We now have to try to see what we can do from here and attack as much as possible. »
