Nico Rosberg: F-duct will provide benefit at 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
Mercedes AMG driver, Nico Rosberg has said that the team’s innovative car design to boost up the top pace will prove out to be a competitive edge for him at 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix which is to be held at the Sepang International Circuit this weekend.
In the season opener at Australia, Rosberg stood at 12th place after the unpleasant incident with Sauber driver, Sergio Perez when he dropped off from the probable sixth position finish, in the last lap.
The Brackley-based team could hardly be able to test the car before the first race during the last year’s pre-season tests. However, they had quite a reliable pre-season testing programme this year.
In addition, there had been many discussions concerning the novel F-duct device in the car which could be put to work along with the Drag Reduction System (DRS) to increase the top speed of the car.
Furthermore, Rosberg expects that this innovative design will provide more advantage in the second GP.
“The circuit has two long straights which should suit us this year, and the conditions will be very demanding as always due to the high heat and humidity,” he said. “I'm confident that we can improve our performance here, and we will have a successful weekend
in front of all our Malaysian supporters.”
Besides, Rosberg faced tyre degradation issues during the race due to which he lose three places as the first lap ended.
Moreover, Norbert Haug, the motorsport president of Mercedes stated that they were working on correcting the problems and preparing for the next race this weekend.
“Nico's lap times were affected by higher levels of tyre degradation than ourselves and Pirelli had expected from testing and the practice sessions in Melbourne,” Haug said. “Our team will be working hard to understand and, where possible, correct this before
the next race in Malaysia.”
Rosberg’s teammate, Michael Schumacher has said that he was hoping to see the true pace of all the rivals in the second race. The seven-time world champion also said that they had acquired some very valuable information regarding the car in the first race
which would be quite helpful in making the essential developments for the season ahead.
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