Saturday: Happiness at Mercedes, but the drivers are realistic
While Mercedes hadn't shown much speed over a single lap during free practice, it's Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton who will start on the front row tomorrow after dominating the competition. It's the third consecutive pole position for a Silver Arrow, even though both drivers know that the hardest part is yet to come.
Nico Rosberg – 11th and 1st
« It’s a great feeling to be on pole again. Everything has been going well since the beginning of the weekend and it’s a pleasure to see the team improving and that we are fighting our issues together. I know everyone at the factory, and once we get back home, we will review this afternoon and it will be great for all of us. After that, we know we’ve only done half the job and we have a painful reminder that what happened in Bahrain proves it. We’ve worked very hard on our race pace, but this track is tough on tires, especially with graining. So it’s going to be a big challenge tomorrow, and our goal is to make the most of the opportunities we have starting upfront, and to get a solid result for the team. »
Lewis Hamilton – 9th and 2nd
A good job by the team, and I am so happy that we achieved a one-two in qualifying today. It’s a real bonus for us to be so high, and it’s all the work put in by the team on this car, I can’t thank them enough. Of course, I would have liked to be one place higher, but Nico did a fantastic job and put in a good lap. I wasn’t really satisfied with the car’s balance over the weekend, even today, so we need to look at that tonight and see what we can do for the race. Limiting degradation is going to be my biggest challenge since our overall pace is not too bad. It will be difficult to keep these positions tomorrow but we will do our best.
