Mercedes’ poor form continued during qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg managed to get in the top ten and will start from eighth, but Michael Schumacher – only three races away from retirement – will line up fourteenth.
“My qualifying did not exactly go according to plan today. We changed our approach a little for the last run in Q2, and then I did not properly make use of it in the first sector and particular in turn one,” the seven times champion said afterwards.
“So we are not quite where we would want to have qualified but I will certainly try to make the best out of my starting position tomorrow.”
“Qualifying worked out well for us today as P8 was our target and we were able to achieve that position. I’m ahead of a Ferrari and a Lotus so that’s a good step, and we have made some improvements with our set-up work this weekend,” Nico Rosberg added.
“Thanks to my mechanics today who did a great job to fix an issue with the brakes just before qualifying and make sure that the car was ready in time. It won’t be an easy task for us to move up the field tomorrow but I’m looking forward to the race and to seeing what we can achieve.”
“A good qualifying session for Nico today, considering the car that we have at the moment. He drove very well, and the team did a good job to get him out at the right time and maximise our potential. We squeezed as much performance out of the car as possible today, and eighth place is a small improvement on recent performances,” Ross Brawn concluded.
“It was a little frustrating for Michael as a small mistake on his quick lap in Q2 prevented him from finishing higher up the field. But overall, a more positive day for where we are with the car, and we will wait to see what happens in the race tomorrow.”
