Thursday: Mercedes GP narrows the gap with the leaders
Mercedes GP can be satisfied with its first day of testing. The MGPW02 seems to be more competitive than in Barcelona last week, and the gap with the leaders is smaller than in Spain.
Nico Rosberg – 3rd and 3rd:
It’s great to be back on track here in Monaco. I felt comfortable right from the start, and we did a good job with the setup. It can be challenging to find the right settings here because you have to bring together many aspects like brake balance and tire degradation, but we had a good day, and I’m happy with our start to the weekend.
The tires are not as bad as we expected and the degradation will be relatively slow so pole position will be a bit less important than expected.
Michael Schumacher – 7th and 10th:
The gap to the cars in front seems smaller here than in Barcelona. After my accident this morning, we made a set-up change and I locked the wheels under braking in turn 1. My decision to take the escape route was too late, which is why I hit the barrier. The mechanics did a great job and this afternoon, the car was as fast as in the morning. What Nico showed in terms of performance on one lap seems good and our long stints were also good.
Ross Brawn – Team Principal:
« We had a productive day with a lot of work done. The team recovered very well from Michael’s accident and provided him with a good car for the afternoon session. We worked with both high and low fuel loads with both types of tires, and the tires seem to hold up relatively well, probably better than expected, which will need to be considered for Sunday’s race. Overall, it was a good start to our weekend in Monaco. »
