Mercedes, Nico Rosberg: “We have made progress here in India”

In qualifying for the Indian Grand Prix, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg closes the top ten on the starting grid after entering Q3. However, the German driver preferred not to set a time in Q3 in order to have a set of new tires in the race. His teammate, Michael Schumacher, will start from 14th position.

Nico Rosberg – 10th: “Regarding our strategy for the race, it was better for us not to look for time in Q3 because we should have an advantage tomorrow with fresh tyres. Of course it's not a good feeling to be waiting in the pits and watching the others out there. It looks like the race will be hard on the tires with very long stints, so I should have an advantage over the cars in front of me. I will be able to tell you tomorrow if it was the right decision, but I'm quite happy today, it seems like we made a little improvement here.”

Michael Schumacher – 14: “We had a tough qualifying session today and I still can't really explain why, particularly when I go to compare the times to what I did this morning. In free practice, we were able to run similar lap times with a lot more fuel in the car but, for whatever reason, we weren't able to get the tires into the right working window and generate enough grip this afternoon. This means I'll be starting from a fairly unpromising position tomorrow, but it also makes our tactics much simpler.”