Canadian F1 Grand Prix 2012: Race Report - Nico Rosberg 6th, Michael Schumacher retired

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Nico Rosberg finished the Canadian Grand Prix in sixth place today with Michael Schumacher forced to retire after 43 laps.

• Nico ran a two-stop strategy, pitting on laps 19 and 38, and using super soft/soft/soft tyres
• Michael retired after 43 laps when an hydraulic problem left his rear-wing flap stuck open
• Nico has now scored 67 points in the last five races - the equal highest of any driver in the field

Nico Rosberg
“Sixth place is a decent result today and it’s important for both me and the team to keep scoring points for the championship and maintain our consistency. It was a mixed-up race and it was difficult to find a rhythm, particularly at the start, but by the end, the gap to the leading cars was not that big. It could have gone better this weekend, and we just need a little bit more performance to be competing at the front. However we are making good progress and increasing our understanding of the tyres all the time.”

Michael Schumacher
“Unfortunately, our weekend in Montreal didn’t turn out trouble-free for me and a hydraulic problem with the DRS forced me to end my race early. At first, I didn’t know exactly what the problem was; I overshot the corner, ran through the grass and asked myself what was going on. Then the team told me about the problem and I saw it in the mirrors. Of course it’s disappointing for all of us but it’s not a question of pointing fingers; stuff like this happens. I know the team are doing their best and that it probably hits them even harder than me. We’ll be back on the attack in Valencia.”

Ross Brawn
“We had a very quick car today, as Nico´s performance in particular showed, but a combination of failing to achieve our potential in qualifying and a messy race cost us positions at the flag. We asked both drivers to be cautious with the super soft tyres in the first five laps to ensure we didn´t push them too hard, but when we gave them the go-ahead, it was clear that Nico - who was running in clean air - was extremely quick and one of the fastest cars. Michael was caught in a train of cars in the lower half of the top ten, and although we tried something different by stopping early in order to get him into clean air, it didn´t quite work for us. He then suffered a hydraulic issue which left his DRS jammed open and it was not possible to fix it in race conditions. I can only apologise to Michael for a further technical failure. As for Nico, his race was running to plan and he was gaining on the leaders when he ran across Massa, who was running out of tyres and defending vigorously before his final stop. This cost Nico both track position and time that proved crucial in the closing laps. Ultimately, that´s part of racing, but the real lesson from today is that achieving our potential in qualifying, and running clean races, is vital for strong results.”

Norbert Haug
“It was a great, exciting race this afternoon, during which Nico was able to lap at the same speed as the leaders after a tricky opening few laps. Nico was 14 seconds behind first place at the end of the race - the same gap as we saw after 10 laps. Our team has taken an important step forward and got the most from the tyres in track temperatures that exceeded 40 degrees, which was demonstrated by Nico several times setting the fastest laps of the race during his stints. We got the tyre management right here, as in Monaco, and we are working hard to push this process further forward. After seven races, Nico is 21 points behind the championship leader - he has scored on average just three points fewer than leader Lewis Hamilton, which is not too big a gap. Michael was running well after his early stop until he was forced to retire with his rear wing flap stuck open. It’s clear to everybody in the team that we must achieve the same levels of reliability on his car as we have with Nico, who has completed every racing lap so far this season. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes on their victory today - it was the 300th race for McLaren and Mercedes, a milestone which adds extra significance to Lewis’ appearance on the top step of the podium.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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Canadian F1 Grand Prix 2012: Qualifying Report - Nico Rosberg 5th, Michael Schumacher 9th

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Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher qualified in fifth and ninth positions for the Canadian Grand Prix today.

• Nico missed third practice owing to a problem with a fuel connector, which was resolved quickly after the session
• Just 0.493s separated the top 10 cars in Q2, but this was still only the fourth closest session of the season so far
• Warm-up on the supersofts was a key factor with varying strategies used to get the tyres performing on timed laps

Nico Rosberg
“Today’s qualifying session went pretty well and P5 is a good starting position to gain a strong result here in Montreal. I can still hope for a podium finish tomorrow as we have worked very hard on our race pace over the weekend. That’s why I feel quite positive because the race will depend on good tyre management as the key factor.”

Michael Schumacher
“Well, this certainly was not how we had planned our qualifying to be today. Our calculation for Q3 was to go for two laps and attack on the second one after we had seen at the beginning of Q3 that one lap did not work properly. I don´t really know how we managed not to make it over the line early enough to start the second lap but, when I passed the line, the team told me it was too late. We could not have achieved pole today as we could not do the times the guys up front were doing, but I could most likely have been able to do the time I was doing earlier in qualifying and start the race from a bit a better position. I now have to take it how it is and make the attack in the race tomorrow that I could not do today.”

Ross Brawn
“As we are getting used to this year, it was an extremely close session and warming up the tyres in the right way was a critical factor. In the final part of qualifying, both drivers had two sets of options available and completed a single timed lap on their first run. They felt that the tyres were not quite up to temperature, so Nico opted to do a second one-lap run with a more aggressive out-lap, while Michael chose to do two timed laps, with a slower lap followed by a quicker one. This worked well for Nico, who set his fastest time of the session, but we mismanaged Michael´s run and lost too much time while looking for a gap in the traffic. He therefore crossed the line 0.04s after the chequered flag came out, and was unable to complete his final lap - although he had set his best first sector time before he backed off. This was certainly not a session where we achieved our full potential, but Nico did a strong job to recover from the running time he lost this morning, and we know that, even from fifth and ninth positions, we will still have plenty of opportunities to make progress through the field tomorrow.”

Norbert Haug
“A good effort from Nico after he had to miss third practice this morning. He and his engineers could not fine-tune the car in the morning session, so fifth place in this competitive field constitutes a good recovery. Michael was in traffic during the out lap of his final qualifying run so he had to build a gap. The chequered flag came out at the very moment Michael crossed the start and finish line, starting what was supposed to be his fastest qualifying lap. The consequence is that he has to start from ninth position. Our long run pace yesterday and this morning looked quite good, so we are hoping for a good race for both of our drivers tomorrow.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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Canadian F1 Grand Prix 2012: Friday's Free Practice Report (VMM)

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LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-27A-03
- P1 programme: 1m15.564s, 30 laps, 1st
- P2 programme: 1m15.259s, 43 laps, 1st

“I’m very happy with my start to the weekend: happy that the rain held off for both sessions today and happy that we got through a lot of good set-up changes. This is a great track to drive - it’s a place that requires 100 percent commitment and where the driver can really make a difference. It magnifies the differences between drivers. Today, even though the option tyre was a little quicker, I preferred running on the prime tyre.

“It was an unfortunate day for Jenson, who had some problems with the back-end of his car. Still, I was very pleased for him that he was at least able to get out at the end of the session and get some laps under his belt. This is a place where it’s important to do some running, because there are some pretty close walls and you need to build your speed up gradually. So today has been positive, but it’s definitely going to be tight this weekend - not just for qualifying, but for the race, too.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-27A-02
- P1 programme: 1m16.347s (+0.783s), 12 laps, 10th
- P2 programme: 1m15.812s (+0.553s), 14 laps, 9th

“Well, we certainly had a few issues today. We had an oil leak on my car in this morning’s session, so the mechanics had to take the gearbox off then put it back on. And then we found another problem, so they had to take it off again then put it back on again!

“They did a great job, but the delays stopped us from doing any high-fuel running or any set-up work simply because we had to get out on the circuit and get some laps in. It meant we didn’t put a set-up on the car that felt quite right. Still, as I say, I want to say a massive thanks to the guys for working flat-out to get everything fixed - they were fantastic. But I’m not too worried - the car has been working well and Lewis has been quick all day, so there’s a lot of good information for us to look at for tomorrow. I enjoy driving around this place, so we’ll be hoping for a bit more luck tomorrow.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Lewis performed extremely well today. His short-run pace was strong, and his long-run pace was excellent. For Jenson, clearly, today was rather more troubled, albeit through no fault of his own. He suffered an oil leak in this morning’s session which necessitated the removal and re-fitting of his gearbox. Then, prior to this afternoon’s session, we diagnosed another problem and as a result we had to change his gearbox yet again.

“Consequently, he lost a lot of running time today - and then, when we finally got him out onto the track with only 18 minutes of P2 to go, he encountered quite a bit of traffic and was unable to get a decent run in the few laps available to him. Still, hats off to his mechanics, who did a splendid job to remove and replace the back-end of his car, not once, but twice, today.

“But tomorrow, in P3, we’ll work on getting Jenson a good package with which to qualify, and we all know how brilliant he can be at this circuit. Last year he was superb here, as tens of millions of TV viewers worldwide won’t need me to remind them. Lewis, too, is always super-competitive here - he won this race in both 2007 and 2010 - and I’m sure he’ll approach tomorrow’s qualifying session with his customary confidence again this year.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

Copyright © 2012, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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