Saturday: Mercedes prepared for all situations
The Mercedes team can approach the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix with optimism. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg delivered a strong performance in qualifying, and the F1W04 performs well in both dry and wet conditions, which is always a positive in Malaysia.
Lewis Hamilton – 2nd and 4th:
I’m happy with the 4th place given the conditions today. The car wasn’t too bad in the dry but the balance could have been a bit better. Then the conditions got a bit tricky during Q3. We did our lap with more worn tires than the guys in front, which is a shame but our pace was still good so I can’t complain. It’s the second race of the season and the second second row for me and there’s a lot of positives to take from it. Our pace on long stints seems quite good compared to the other teams so I hope for dry conditions tomorrow.
Nico Rosberg – 9th and 6th:
« On the dry, I had a very good balance today and everything went perfectly. Once it started raining, we unfortunately weren’t able to extract the maximum performance from the car and at the end of Q3 my tires were worn as some parts of the track were drying; I wasn’t able to improve my time. We have a good car for the race and a good starting position on the grid so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We should have good opportunities and we need to make sure to take advantage of them. »
