Saturday: Mercedes struggling with the tires and the track
Mercedes was unable to place a single one of its representatives in Q3, on a circuit that does not suit the F1 W03 well, both due to its layout and the temperatures in Hungary. Nico Rosberg missed the last phase of qualifying by two-tenths, while Michael Schumacher could not make the most of his best chance, due to the dust sent onto the track by Pastor Maldonado.
Nico Rosberg – 18th and 13th:
« It was a difficult qualifying session for us today, and we need to analyze why it went that way. Qualifying is always a compromise, and I focused on good race settings for tomorrow as we should experience more tire degradation on our car compared to others, but it’s still disappointing to miss Q3 by two tenths. »
Michael Schumacher – 17th and 17th:
« It has been a very difficult day for us. We must clearly see that we didn’t have the pace to be at the front. I probably could have done a faster lap without the dust kicked up by Maldonado, but I don’t think it would have gotten me into Q3. I don’t think we could have done much more. This morning, we practiced on long runs since yesterday we couldn’t do it because of the rain, but I don’t think it compromised our performance. We must accept that the gap is big. We know that the combination of the track layout and the temperatures doesn’t suit us well, and we will try to make the best of it tomorrow. »
