Michael Schumacher has enjoyed his best qualifying result to date for Mercedes, managing fourth on the grid for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix. In the second car, Nico Rosberg initially looked to be fighting for pole, but made a mistake at Turn 3.
“The first qualifying session of the year proved to be as tight a competition as we had all hoped for,” said the seven-time World Champion, whose last Melbourne win for Ferrari came in 2004. “I am certainly happy with our performance which is a huge step forward, considering where we were in qualifying here last year.
“I can only thank the guys for all of the hard work that they have achieved over the winter. I also think it is important to stress that Mercedes-Benz have always believed in and supported this project and I really hope we can deliver the results we all want. We have to take this step-by-step as the competition is very tight, so now we have to continue to work hard.”
Rosberg could not help but show his annoyance, despite also being pleased:
“We are happy to see that we have obviously improved the car over the winter. It seems that we can be strong in the race as well from what we learned during practice this weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't get the most out of it today. I didn't quite find the right setup as we have a lot of new things on the car and it will take a few races to get it working perfectly.
“I also made a small mistake on my last lap, which cost me some time. Seventh is still a good position, though, and I will be doing my best to move forward tomorrow.”
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:24.922 | 14 |
| 2. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:25.074 | 15 |
| 3. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 01:25.302 | 21 |
| 4. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:25.336 | 18 |
| 5. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:25.651 | 17 |
| 6. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:25.668 | 18 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:25.686 | 16 |
| 8. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 01:25.908 | 20 |
| 9. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 01:26.451 | 18 |
| 10. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | no time | 16 |
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| Michael Schumacher | |||
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| More Michael Schumacher photos | |||
| Nico Rosberg | |||
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| More Nico Rosberg photos | |||
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