Mercedes GP driver Michael Schumacher has revealed that he has gambled on his car's set-up to try and maximise his chances of having a good race in Hungary, after qualifying only 14th for tomorrow's race in Budapest.
Schumacher was eliminated from qualifying at the second hurdle for the second race in a row, only managing 14th as his comeback season continues to emanate with the distinctive whiff of fail.
But after the qualifying session, the German revealed that he had made a decision on set-up designed to help the car in the race, which he hopes will allow him to move forwards tomorrow.
"Obviously qualifying was not ideal for us today," Schumacher pointed out after the session.
"After yesterday's performance, we purposely went for a different set-up which was supposed to tell us more about the car and was targeted more towards the race.
"It seemed to be reasonable this morning but as the track became hotter in qualifying, it went against us. Our set-up should work better in the race although starting from 14th place does not make it easy."
He added: "Being on the dirty side of the starting grid does not specifically help, but I will certainly try again to have a good start tomorrow. And from then on we will have to see how the race develops."
Once again, for the tenth time in twelve races, Schumacher found himself outqualified by his team mate Nico Rosberg.
And Rosberg, who will start from sixth place on the grid, said that he was happy to have got so far up the order during qualifying, after the team had predicted a difficult weekend.
"I'm pleased to be starting from sixth place as we didn't think we would be that far forward today, so it's an unexpected and pleasant surprise," Rosberg smiled on Saturday.
"We are a long way from the front which is a concern but we took everything that we could from today and I am happy with our performance.
"We did a very good job with the set-up which meant we could get the best out of the car. Hopefully I can have a good start and our aim as always is to make up a few more places and get some decent points again."
Team principal Ross Brawn added: "I must compliment Nico on a great job and achieving a strong starting position which is as good as we could have hoped given the performance of the car."
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
