Sunday: That’s all for Mercedes
Just like in Australia, all hopes were allowed for Mercedes AMG at the end of the qualifying session, but this did not translate into a solid race result. Michael Schumacher was hit by Romain Grosjean's Lotus in the first lap, which forced him into a mad recovery up to tenth place. Rosberg, on his side, struggled with his tires and ended up outside the top 10.
Michael Schumacher – 10th
« With the position I had at the start of the race, it’s a shame to only score one point at the end of the day, and I obviously would have wished for a better outcome for our team after their hard work. I was hit from behind after the start, and the car spun, which affected my afternoon. »
« During the first part of the race, I tried to stay on track given that you couldn’t see anything. After the restart, the pace wasn’t so bad, but it was the same for many teams, so there was no way to gain positions. It’s clear that there is still a lot of work to be done to take advantage of our qualifying pace in the race, and I’m convinced the guys are already thinking of solutions. But it won’t be done in one race; it will take some time, and we need to give them that time. However, it’s a fact that we’ve improved, so I can go home knowing that and looking forward to fighting in the upcoming races. »
Nico Rosberg – 13th
« It was a bad day for me after a turbulent race. I had a good restart and thanks to a good strategy I was in fourth position. But then I had problems with the intermediate tires, the degradation was really significant, which forced me to pit for a new set of tires. The positive thing is that in my last stint with the slicks I had a good pace and thanks to my tire management I was able to beat Jenson. We are strong in qualifying but not yet in the race, and we need to work on that before the next race in China. »
Ross Brawn – Team Principal
« It’s a very disappointing end to what had been a very positive weekend here in Malaysia. We clearly have a puzzle that we need to solve with this car. After an encouraging qualifying session and the long runs we did on Friday, we struggled to get the tires working properly in the race today. There was a small window when they seemed to work, and the rest of the time it didn’t go well at all. »
« I don’t think we wear the tires too much, we just don’t use them properly and that’s a problem we need to solve if we want to move forward with the car. It’s particularly disappointing after the potential we’ve shown, however, I am confident that we have enough strength and the right people to solve the issue. »
