Schumacher feels pleased with Mercedes at 2012 Australian Grand Prix – Formula 1 news
Mercedes AMG driver Michael Schumacher is very pleased with the promising start of the team at the 2012 Australian Grand Prix held at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia.
However, the record championship holder has cautioned about drawing any kinds of conclusions from the times of the second practice session on Friday afternoon.
Seven time world champion set the quickest time of 1 minute and 29.183 seconds at FP2 and remained the third fastest driver overall while he was headed by the McLaren drivers, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.
The circuit was wet due to the rain during both the practice sessions which made it difficult to judge the standings of the teams whereas Schumacher said that the sessions had proved out to be quite encouraging for them.
“Today was a nice start into a hopefully exciting season, and certainly two promising sessions for us,” he said. “However, I would not go so far as to speak about being confident, as the weather conditions were too mixed to gain a clear picture.”
Moreover, he said that during both the sessions they were unaware of the fuel levels of other contenders. Nevertheless he said that he felt the new car W03 provided good handling during the drive and they appeared competent in different situations.
“We know what Friday sessions are for and don't know what fuel loads others were running. On the other hand, it is good to see that we were competitive in different circumstances today and that the car provides good handling - I just feel it,” he said.
Mercedes motorsport president, Norbert Haug stated that race pace had been the real focus for the day regardless of the impressive lap times.
In addition, Haug said that both the team drivers, Schumacher and Nico Rosberg felt good in the new car. He also said that they focused on race simulations with changed programmes and drove on medium tyres because they had decided to wait for the conditions
on track to get better.
Besides, he said that they worked flawlessly during both the practice sessions which had given an inspiring start to the team for the upcoming season.
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