Saturday: Vibration problems on Schumacher’s Mercedes
Mercedes is satisfied after the Korean Grand Prix qualifications. Nico Rosberg secures 7th place, which was the best he could do with the Mercedes GP. Michael Schumacher had less luck and got stuck in Q2 due to vibrations with the super-soft tires, placing 11th. Both drivers hope to gain a few positions in the race and score points.
Nico Rosberg – 10th and 7th
« I am happy. Finding the right settings for the qualification and the race is always a compromise, especially after so little running on a dry track. So I’m happy we preserved a set of super-soft tires. It will be tough to beat one of the six drivers ahead tomorrow, but hopefully, I’ll have a good start and be able to gain a position. It will be an interesting race from a tire perspective with many stops, and I’m confident our guys will do a good job. »
Michael Schumacher – 6th and 11th
« To start with the positive aspect, I kept a set of super-soft tires which is always useful. On the other hand, what happened is unfortunate. Everything was going well in Q1 and from what you can expect from the tires under normal circumstances it was totally justified to do just one lap in Q2. But unfortunately, I felt that something was wrong as I left the pits. I had vibrations. We could only hope that the gap would be big enough to stay in the top 10 but that wasn’t the case. We now have to look carefully at what happened and be fully focused on gaining positions in the race tomorrow. »
Ross Brawn – Team Principal
« It was a good afternoon for Nico, and 7th place represents the car’s capabilities. We had a balanced approach with tire usage. Nico only made one attempt in each part of qualifying and will have a new set of super-softs and two sets of softs for the race. The uncertainty about tire performance following yesterday’s session means we wanted to keep as many new sets as possible, even if the performance level is higher than anticipated. »
« Michael’s pace in Q1 with the soft tires was very good, but then he complained about vibrations with the super-softs in Q2. We considered changing tires but decided to stay on track and try a timed lap. In the end, the pace doesn’t reflect what the car is capable of, and there wasn’t enough time to do another lap. Michael was only a tenth away from Q3, and we will have opportunities tomorrow. »
