Mixed results for Mercedes at the Korean Grand Prix
The two Mercedes drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg suffered mixed fortunes at the Korean International circuit. The team was pleased with its car this weekend as both of their drivers managed to qualify until the Q3 session and secured the 9th
and 5th place on the grid for Michael and Rosberg respectively.
Both of the drivers made a good start when racing properly got underway as Rosberg passed Lewis Hamilton while Schumacher found his way past the Polish driver Robert Kubica.
Rosberg found himself in a strong third place before Mark Webber’s Red Bull caught the kerb on the exit of turn 12 and went right into the barrier before sliding back towards Rosberg to bring the Mercedes drivers race to an unfortunate end.
“We had a near perfect weekend with the car that we have until the collision in the race today. Qualifying in fifth place was great yesterday and the car has felt good all weekend. The team has done a great job here and the straight-line speed that we had
enabled me to overtake Hamilton early in the race,” said Rosberg.
Mercedes was clearly performing much better than they were since the past couple of races. Rosberg has been the better driver almost throughout the season as compared to Michael Schumacher and was clearly faster than him during the qualifying session as
well.
Nico Rosberg is currently in 8th position in the drivers’ standings with 122 points ahead of his teammate in 9th place with 66 points. Keeping in mind Mercedes is not even close to the top running teams; Rosberg has been quite an inspiration
for the young drivers this season as he scored some decent results. Michael Schumacher on the other hand, has had the most disappointing season of his career so far and he is still finding it difficult to get used to the car.
“So it's a big shame that my race was ended early. It was really difficult to judge which way Mark's car would go and I took the decision to go left but he spun more and more that way and I just couldn't avoid him. It's a real shame as we could have had
a great result today,” he added.
Rosberg could not avoid the incident in any way as it happened so fast and since the track was so slippery, he could not make any sudden movements. Therefore, his team cannot blame him for this incident.
However, he was running in a strong fifth place before retiring and was going at an extremely good pace. Since both Red Bull cars retired, Nico would have had the best treat for his team but it was just not meant to be. Schumacher meanwhile, scored his best
result of the season and was as happy as a kid having liquorice for dinner. He finished in 4th place behind Felipe Massa but owed it more to the two Red Bull retirements more than his driving skills.
“I am pretty happy with today's race and I have to say thank you to my team who guided me perfectly through the afternoon. I am sure that the spectators had a lot of fun here today at this first Korean race,” said Schumacher.
Pulling off such a race was quite an achievement for the officials as this location looked like a construction site just a week before the race. It was quite impressive how the officials at the venue managed the whole event keeping in mind that this was
the only wet race of the season and with the track so slippery, it made it even more difficult.
Nevertheless, Nico should not be disappointed with what happened as it was sheer bad luck and he could not have done anything about it in anyway.
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