Mercedes secures another strong qualifying result
Mercedes AMG's Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg qualified in second and fourth positions today ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. Despite not securing its 5th consecutive pole, it marks another strong qualifying for the team in difficult conditions.
Lewis Hamilton, 2nd: "It's good to be up on the front row again but I am a little disappointed with my last lap. I was seven-tenths up going into the last corner which was really slippery and unfortunately I went straight on. I would have lost time there anyway as it was so wet but there was a chance of pole if the lap had come together. Tomorrow should be a good opportunity for us though. The car felt great yesterday in the dry so we'll keep our fingers crossed that the rain stays away for the race and hopefully we can give Seb a run for his money. We've got a good car and I feel like I'm on it here so let's see what we can do tomorrow."
Nico Rosberg, 4th: "We were very quick in the difficult conditions out there this afternoon and I'm a little disappointed that I didn't qualify further up the grid. Unfortunately my radio stopped working and communicating with my engineers is crucial in conditions like we had this afternoon. The biggest issue was not knowing that I had one more lap that was the chance to improve my time. But generally I can be pleased to be starting from the second row and I will hope for a strong race tomorrow. We need to manage the tyres well and then I believe we can get a good result."
Ross Brawn, Team principal: "It was an unusual qualifying session this afternoon, with both drivers staying on the intermediate tyres throughout. The team managed the situation well, getting the cars out on track at the right time, and we saw how difficult that was to achieve today. Both drivers did a fantastic job: Lewis secured his third consecutive front-row starting position while Nico finished P4 in spite of a radio problem that made communication difficult when he was out on track. As we often see in conditions like this, there are some cars out of position compared to where they would be in the dry, and that should make for a very exciting race."
Toto Wolff, Executive director: "It was a tough qualifying for everybody and these are conditions where it is a lot easier to get things wrong than right. That means we're very happy to have both cars on the front two rows, starting second and fourth tomorrow. The race will be a step into the unknown because the forecast says it should be dry and warmer than it has been so far this weekend. That will keep everybody on their toes and should make for a fun afternoon."
