Nico Rosberg has conceded that he didn’t extract the maximum from his car in Abu Dhabi this evening, with the Mercedes GP driver having to settle for seventh place on tomorrow’s grid. A sixth place finish in this afternoon’s practice session had raised the German’s hopes, but instead he was left to rue what could have been.
"We didn't quite get the maximum from our qualifying session today which was a shame," he said. "The track temperatures dropped during the session and it became more difficult to get the tyres working.
"On my second run in Q3, I had too much traffic in front of me to warm the tyres up sufficiently and that hurt me on the quick lap, otherwise I think we could have been further ahead. However I'm on the good side of the grid and it should be a fun race tomorrow."
On the other side of the Mercedes GP garage, Michael Schumacher finished as the eighth fastest man, but was almost a full second slower than team-mate Rosberg.
"It was quite a tight qualifying today," the seven-time Champion explained. "I aborted my last lap in Q1 to save tyres, and having some fresh tyres left is the good news from Q3 as well.
"Overall it was a normal qualifying where we would probably not have much more in the pocket. I also expect a straightforward race and we will try to make the most out of opportunities that arise.
"The tyres should not be a big issue here, and we tested their behaviour in P2 yesterday which took place at the same time as the race. The fact that the track temperatures will drop during the race might be good for us as we struggle a bit with the tyre temperatures here."
Series
Formula 1
Personalities
Nico Rosberg
Michael Schumacher
Teams
Mercedes Grand Prix
Other
Get your official Formula 1 tickets at Sportstadium.com
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:38.481 | 16 |
| 2. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:38.622 | 15 |
| 3. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:38.631 | 14 |
| 4. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:38.858 | 19 |
| 5. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:39.058 | 16 |
| 6. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:39.695 | 20 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:39.773 | 17 |
| 8. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:40.662 | 18 |
| 9. | A. Sutil | Force India | 01:40.768 | 17 |
| 10. | P. di Resta | Force India | no time | 15 |
| Full results | ||||
| Michael Schumacher | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
| More Michael Schumacher photos | |||
| Nico Rosberg | |||
 |  |  |  |
| More Nico Rosberg photos | |||
English
Nederlands
Español
Italiano
