F1 News
Date:
25/May/2013
Nico Rosberg made it four poles in a row for Mercedes,
leading the second successive ‘Silver Arrows’ one-two during a damp qualifying
session at Monaco on Saturday.
“It’s very special. I’ve lived here all my life,” said
Rosberg. “The way through the tunnel is my way to school and now I’m driving
through there with a Silver Arrow.”
The result had been widely predicted, given the proven
one-lap speed of the Mercedes, but major questions remain over their potential
in the race.
Rosberg’s previous poles have resulted in just ninth and sixth
places and the team’s best pole conversion of the year is a third for Lewis
Hamilton in China.
Rosberg, who edged out Hamilton by less than a tenth of a
second in Monaco qualified, admitted:
“It’s only two weeks since Barcelona when we finished 70
seconds from victory, so for sure we still have large problems in the race. This
track is an advantage for us because you can’t overtake so easily. It also eats
the tyres less, so there are some advantages.
“We made a few changes to improve things so we are
progressing and hopefully looking better than Barcelona, but it’s still our
weakness. But it can also be a bit better than expected tomorrow. We just have
to wait and see.”
Hamilton doesn’t expect any race day miracles.
“There isn’t a fix,” he said. “As Nico said it’s difficult
to overtake here but it has only been two weeks so we haven’t made a huge step
forward, but hopefully with less high-speed corners here we might stand a
better chance.”
Most believe the best chance of a Mercedes victory is if the
second Mercedes blocks the road once they hit tyre issues, allowing the faster
car to escape. They would also need to respond when rivals try to break out of
the ‘train’ with an early pit stop.
But before any of that, Rosberg and Hamilton need to
successfully negotiate the notorious Monaco first turn.
“The start is going to be important for sure,” said Rosberg.
“We’ll see who gets to the first corner first. I have the advantage that I’m
ahead and on the clean side of the grid so that will definitely be good and
then from there we have to see how it goes - who’s quicker in the race and
strategy and things like that.
“I think tonight we’ll speak about it,” revealed Hamilton. “It’s
obviously important that we position ourselves in a smart way that we can keep
Sebastian behind and then focus on trying to grab that one-two.”
Red Bull’s reigning champion and 2013 title leader Sebastian
Vettel will be ready to pounce on any problems.
“If all goes well hopefully the Mercedes will struggle and
we’ll sail past in the pit stop. But I don’t think we can rely on that,” he
said. “Tyre wear will for sure play a role tomorrow but I think we need to look
after ourselves first and then see what happens.”
Vettel will be joined on row two by team-mate Mark Webber,
with 2013 race winners Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
forming row three.
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