Struggle is an understatement for today - Schumacher
Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher finished the United States Grand Prix in 13th and 16th places respectively today. The Mercedes AMG drivers found it hard to get the tyres up to temperature and furthermore struggled with high tyre wear.
· Nico followed a one-stop prime/option strategy in the race today, stopping on lap 34
· Michael's race was converted from one to two stops when it became clear his first set of tyres were struggling
· He stopped twice on laps 14 and 39, with a option/prime/prime strategy
Nico Rosberg, F1 W03 / 09, 13th, 1:40.428:
"It was a difficult weekend for us and unfortunately we weren't able to score any points today. However we have learned some important lessons for next year and that's what counts at the moment. I hope we can be more successful next year here in Austin as I have enjoyed our visit. The track, the people and the city are absolutely fantastic. So I look forward to coming back here in 2013 and we will work hard next weekend to finish the season on a positive note."
Michael Schumacher, F1 W03 / 03, 16th, 1:40.923:
"I can't find any words other than ironic ones for the race today - there was a lot of action around me but unfortunately in the wrong direction. To say that the race was a real struggle would be an understatement. I couldn't get any grip from my first set of tyres, and there must have been some kind of damage for them to perform so badly. We had to change our strategy to two stops which then compromised our race even further. All in all, it was much worse than expected today, especially considering that things did not look that bad yesterday and Friday. "
Ross Brawn, Team principal: "After a good qualifying result, Michael's first set of tyres performed very badly today and we decided to convert his strategy to a two-stop race. Once we got onto another set, the lap times came back up to what we expected but having such a poor first stint made it very difficult for him. Nico started a long way back and conserved his tyres well as we knew that we wanted to make a one-stop strategy work. He actually had a pretty good race with respectable lap times, and if we had managed to qualify better, he would have been in a reasonable place. Whilst it is disappointing not to score any points, we have learnt a lot about the car and tyres this weekend which will be useful for the future. Despite our result, this has been a great weekend for Formula One in the United States, and it was very pleasing to see so many fans here for the first race in Austin. Our thanks for the organisers for putting on such a good show."
Norbert Haug, VP of Mercedes HPD:
"Nico's speed was not too bad but from 17th on the grid, he could not improve further. His one-stop strategy worked as planned which was not the case for Michael who, after a respectable place on the grid, did not have the speed in his car to defend his position after the start of the race. The team brought him in early and switched to a two-stop strategy. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes for winning the inaugural Grand Prix here at this great race track, after having won the last United States Grand Prix in 2007. Thank you to the organisers for making this race happen here in Austin. We will come back stronger next year. Congratulations to Red Bull Racing for securing the Constructors' World Championship today."
