Michael Schumacher says new Mercedes W03 is showing positive signs – Formula 1 news
Michael Schumacher admitted that the competitiveness of the new Mercedes car is better than it has previously been.
Schumacher was able to record the second fastest time on the third day of the second pre-season test in Barcelona. Speculations of an improved competitive Mercedes were already rife before it was revealed and it has proved to be a car with pace and reliability.
A good combination considering all major teams have found trouble with their new challengers after unveiling them.
Mercedes did face an issue with the hydraulics of the car but it was just a leak and was fixed since though the car has proved to be very reliable as Schumacher completed 127 laps on Thursday. The German praised the performance of the W03 and said that it
is handling much better and the pace and reliability is also there.
“I'm definitely excited [to start the season],” Schumacher told reporters in Barcelona. “Particularly because we had a trouble free day today. We did a race simulation and even the competitiveness of the car is better than it has been. So some promising
signs that I hope we can transform in to good results.”
“It's definitely clear that we have improved the car, but the question is how much have we improved the car compared to the others? That's something that I don't know yet,” he added.
Nico Rosberg has shown good pace in the Mercedes as well and by looking at the team with an improved car Mercedes might prove to be strong contenders for the top three places. The team understands that it cannot go from fourth to first all of a sudden, it
is a gradual process and Mercedes seem to be on the right track.
There is still the last pre-season left before the season begins on March 18th with the Australian Grand Prix inaugurating the season.
It will be interesting to see how the intra-team battle goes down in the 2012 season as Rosberg has publicly said that he wants to do better than Schumacher.
While the veteran has remained quite on the subject, it is assumed that Schumacher is looking for the bigger prize rather than meddle with these sort of competitions.
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