Michael Schumacher says he struggled in Belgian GP due to sixth gear loss – Formula 1 news
Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher has said that he could not improve his position in the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix as he lost his car’s sixth gear while there were seven laps left.
Schumacher could not make his way into the final session of the qualifying last weekend. However, he performed amazingly well in the previous race held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and secured 7th place finish after taking a start from 13th
grid slot.
The veteran German driver took a strong start in the Belgian GP and was running at third position during which he was encountered with the issue of tyre degradation. Resultantly, he had to go back to the pits for the second time due to which he lost some
crucial time and came down in the charts.
Moreover, he said that he was aiming to fight back after his second pit stop and was hoping to overtake, Felipe Massa of Ferrari and Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing. Conversely, he faced a problem in his gearbox which hindered his pace to make further advancement
in the race.
“Fighting in the early laps with Ricciardo and some of the other guys I needed to push my tyres and that was probably deciding factor why we had to come in again. We could have finished on that set, but I'm pretty sure I would have ended up in same position.
I think it was good decision to come in and change tyres and then fight again in the last laps for more positions. But I had to stop thinking about that seven laps from end because I lost sixth gear and then it was just luck to actually finish race,” he said.
Even though, he said that he wished to score some more points in the preceding race, nevertheless, he said that he is very much pleased with his performance while he admired the overall efforts of his team in the season so far.
Nonetheless, the seven-time world champion said that he really enjoyed racing in his 300th grand prix held at the circuit where he made his debut and scored his first ever win.
Tags: