RACE NEWS // 09.07.2011
Another weather-affected day at Silverstone led to a tricky qualifying session today for the British Grand Prix with Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher qualifying in ninth and 13th places respectively.
Nico’s tyre usage: Q1: New Prime, New Option (aborted); Q2: Intermediates, New Option; Q3: Used Option, New Option
Michael’s tyre usage: Q1, New Prime; Q2, Intermediates, New Option
Nico finished P9 when his final qualifying lap was compromised by rain in T15, after he had set two personal best sectors. Michael finished P13, just 0.068s from making it to Q3 - this equates to less than a car length over the lap. Indeed, positions 9 to 13 in Q2 were covered by less than one tenth of a second.
“Nico posted his fastest Q3 time on a set of used option tyres which had completed an out-lap earlier in the session” said Norbert after qualifying. “He was considerably quicker with his new options in the first two sectors of his final attempt. His two split times were good enough to suggest he could have finished P5, but he had to abort the lap in the last sector because of rain. Michael missed out on Q3 by less than a tenth of a second. Starting from ninth and 13th places on the grid, we did not achieve the maximum possible today, but nevertheless we will fight for better results tomorrow."
In terms of the weekend's new technical developments, Ross pointed out that the team had “very limited dry running with our new aerodynamic package, as well as having to come to terms with the change in engine strategies." He conceded it had been "a patchy qualifying session during which we didn't catch the track at the right times," explaining that "today was the first step in utilising the new exhaust designs and technologies, and we are still finding our way.”
Credit: Mercedes GP (www3.mercedes-gp.com)
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