Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher pleased with improvements to his W02 car
Team Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher has said that although Red Bull Racing is leading the timesheets at the pre-season test sessions, Mercedes is working according to its initial plan and is right on track.
He said he was not disappointed with the condition of the car and had not really expected to start at the top this year. He said the car was making good progress. “We clearly know that Red Bull is very strong and that is the one you have to look at. At the
moment I guess we are not quite in this position, but I was not expecting to be in that position right now and the season is long,” he told reporters on the third day of the final pre-season test session in Barcelona.
This was Schumacher’s first run for the final pre-season test session. He tested the new exhaust configuration and revised bodywork on his car. The Mercedes W02 is making progress according to the seven-time world champion and the team might be done with
its new car by the first race of this Formula 1 season that is expected to take place in Australia on 27th March.
“We have a big question mark on who is coming behind [Red Bull] and I hope we play a sufficient role in that,” he added.
Schumacher said that he had had a pretty decent day in terms of performance during the pre-season test session since he had completed a reasonable amount of mileage.
“We were able to check and confirm a lot of things on the set-up of the car with the new upgrade package, and my initial impressions are certainly positive. Reliability work being finished in the other test, we are just concentrating on setting-up the car,
fine-tuning it and understanding it to the last details,” he said.
According to Schumacher, the team is only concerned about its reliability but that is how it is, as a team can never create a ‘perfect’ car without ever testing it. Therefore, the team is going to try to ensure the best possible package for its drivers before
the 2011 season commences on 25th March.
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