Michael Schumacher got his best result of the season and beat team-mate Nico Rosberg as the Mercedes drivers finished the Spanish Grand Prix in sixth and seventh place.
However, despite being happy with the result, the seven-time world champion was not too pleased about the handling of his car. “We managed to make the most out of our possibilities today which is good news, especially for our guys who I am happy for,” said Schumacher.
“I had a good start; going right through the middle was tight but fortunately it worked out. Then the race was about holding position from there. We can be happy with the result but other than that, it was just tricky with oversteer, tyre degradation and poor balance to deal with. Still we achieved what we could have, and I look forward to going to Monaco.”
Rosberg finished just behind his team-mate, having to contend with no radio and a broken DRS. “It was a difficult race for me after I lost radio communication with the team early on which was tough, and my DRS was not working properly which made any overtaking almost impossible,” he explained.
“I had fun in the battle with Michael for P6, although I wasn’t able to attack him fully and was therefore stuck behind him for most of the race. I’m now looking forward to my home Grand Prix in Monaco. I love the track and I’m sure we can be closer to the front there.”
Ross Brawn said that it the team’s race was well-run, but concedes that Mercedes still have more work to do if they are to finish any higher.
“It was a tough race today but we achieved everything that we could have with sixth and seventh places,” said the Team Principal. “We opted to start Michael on the option tyres as his reconnaissance laps at the start showed the grip levels were marginal.
“Both drivers had good starts, particularly Michael, and credit to the team for that. Then we had a pretty controlled race with good work on the strategy and in the pits. Obviously we have ground to make up on the cars in front and we will keep working hard.”
