Saturday: Schumacher brings joy to Mercedes
The Mercedes AMG team delivered a strong performance during the qualifying session, as evidenced by Michael Schumacher's 3rd place on the grid. The German driver hopes to take advantage of this position to finish on the podium tomorrow. Nico Rosberg will start a little further back on the grid, but his goal will be to climb up and score big points in tomorrow's race.
Michael Schumacher – 8th and 3rd
I am more than happy with my return to the top 3 today, and the fact that all the guys here and in the Brackley and Brixworth factories enabled me to be here with the superb work done. It was nice to be present for the post-qualification conference for the first time in five years! What is obviously more important would be to still be there tomorrow after the race, and I will do my best to achieve that. Considering our position last year, I think it’s an achievement, and I am thrilled for our title sponsor Petronas as it’s their home Grand Prix here in Malaysia. I would also be delighted to deliver a good result for Mercedes-Benz who has always supported me very strongly.
Nico Rosberg – 1st and 8th
I would obviously have liked to be a bit better positioned on the grid, but I lost a bit of time in my fast lap after a poor first corner which cost me a few tenths and left me with a lot of vibrations for the rest of the lap. But I am still confident that we can be strong tomorrow because we have worked very hard on our race pace throughout the weekend. I hope to be able to gain a few places and score big points in front of our Malaysian supporters and our partner Petronas.
Ross Brawn – Team Principal
« We are obviously delighted with today’s performance and congratulations to Michael in particular. It’s really nice to see him achieve such a performance, and I hope we can capitalize on it in the race tomorrow. We didn’t have much luck in Q2 as the yellow flag came at the worst moment for us because both our drivers had to go out with a second set of Mediums, which left us with only one for Q3. So I’m thrilled with what we’ve accomplished, and we’re in a good position for the race tomorrow. The grid is really very close with a few tenths separating the top 8, and that was enough to push Nico further down than he should have been after flat-spotting his front tire in the first corner. But he is still in a good position, and both our drivers should be able to have a good race tomorrow. »
