Michael Schumacher is still guessing at his rivals pace © Sutton Images
Michael Schumacher was not getting carried away with his headline time at Barcelona on Friday and suspects his rivals have not yet shown their true hand.
The seven-time champion got his first taste of the latest spec Mercedes in the morning and soon shot to the top of the timing screens on a low-fuel run. The team is confident its new exhaust system, floor and front wing will launch the W02 towards the front of the grid, but Schumacher remains coy.
"We've been looking good today and have had a good three days," he told reporters in the Barcelona paddock. "We are developing the car step-by-step. The main issue that we have here at the test is trying to find the right balance and optimising the car's performance, and that has worked pretty well. Obviously we look forward to going to Australia. I'm not sure everybody has shown their cards completely yet, it's something we'll have to see in Australia."
Asked if the Mercedes was now in the top three, Schumacher responded: "All I can say is that we have seen that our package works here reasonably well. But whether everybody has shown their true potential is something we will find out in Australia."
Schumacher handed the car over to team-mate Nico Rosberg in the afternoon, so the younger German could get some track time with the definitive upgrade package before tomorrow's predicted rain showers.
"First of all, it's super that I was able to do some laps today, given the forecast for tomorrow," Rosberg said. "It was a good few laps, and obviously now that we have most of the developments for the car, it was handling much better and I had a good feeling. So I'm pretty pleased with the situation and would like to thank the whole team for getting everything onto the car that we wanted. We've made good progress over the winter."
Credit: ESPN F1 (en.espnf1.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment