Michael Schumacher is confident Mercedes exhuast upgrades will come good © Sutton Images
Michael Schumacher reckons his Mercedes team made solid progress during Friday's practice sessions for the German Grand Prix, after both cars outpaced McLaren.
Mercedes brought a significantly upgraded exhaust to the last grand prix in Britain, but due to the wet weather on Friday and Saturday struggled to optimise its performance. Schumacher believes the team is now reaping the rewards and was happy with his personal performance which secured him the fifth fastest time, 0.7s off Mark Webber's best.
"I'm quite happy with the work that we achieved today and we are going in a good direction," he said. "We are continually developing our car and days like today help that process. It's difficult to see the real picture for the weekend however; we don't know what fuel loads the other cars were running and we need to have a close look at our data.
Team-mate Nico Rosberg, who was sixth and 0.146s off Schumacher, is also cautiously optimistic ahead of the weekend.
"In general, I am happy with our work and progress today so far. It seems that the new parts are working quite well in the dry and I think there is a small step forward. However on Fridays, you never know exactly where you are and what the other teams are doing."
But motorsport director Norbert Haug warned that Mercedes is not yet in a position to fight Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren over a race distance.
"Our race simulation at the end of P2 showed consistent lap times, which were of course still not quick enough compared to the top three teams," he said. "Our positions in the rankings today reflect more or less our current place in the pecking order."
Credit: ESPN F1 (en.espnf1.com)
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