In Spain Nico Rosberg earned his second pole of the year and the third in a row for Mercedes, but the inevitable question is for how long the German and his team mate Lewis Hamilton can run at the front.
At the last two GPs Mercedes has earned pole and then gone backwards come the race.
“Things just worked really well the whole weekend, we just optimised everything,” said Rosberg of today. “Of course, after Bahrain we were thinking about the race a lot, also, so surprised that we could be that quick today. But it all went perfectly in qualifying and I had a really good lap in the end. I’m really, really happy with that.
“It’s always a good motivation boost and everything, especially for the team – front row, fantastic. But of course I have to be a bit cautious because of what happened in Bahrain, so for sure, nice, but to be enjoyed with caution.
“Everyone has been working really, really hard back in the factory to understand even better our problems. You know it’s really an ongoing process, understanding how to get the most out of these tyres. It’s really, really complex, for us drivers, for the engineers, for everybody and we’re just a bit behind at the moment. I’m sure we’ve caught up now.
“But then you come here and there’s different issues again because here it’s more the graining of the tyres that’s the main issue. And so then again here we were trying to catch up and make the most of that situation. I think we’ve improved things. This morning things were looking at little bit better, so I’m a little bit more confident for tomorrow but still the race is going to a whole different thing, with the tyres it’s a big challenge.”
Despite the doubts about race form he would rather be starting at the front than anywhere else: “For sure it’s a benefit to start first. Clean air – hopefully – after the start, starting on the better side of the grid, so that’s all great but the race is very long. To win it’s not good enough to start from pole, you need to have the fastest race car.
“As we’ve seen, there’s so many differences in speeds through the race and strategy and everything. And if you don’t have a very, very quick car there’s no chance. So, we just really need to wait and see.”
Adam Cooper F1 