Schumi chasing top-six qualy slot

Michael Schumacher is chasing his best grid slot of the season in Spain, saying a third row starting position should be possible…

Michael Schumacher is chasing his best grid slot of the season in Spain, saying a third row starting position should be possible.

Schumacher put in a solid – if not spectacular – performance in Friday’s practices at the Circuit de Catalunya, finishing the day’s running in seventh place, 1.511s behind Red Bull’s Mark Webber.

And the German would, based on Practice Two times, have to find an extra four-tenths to get into the top six, the German says he expects to be fighting for a third row starting position come Saturday’s qualifying.

“We have had quite a reasonable Friday and have clearly demonstrated an upwards tendency with our improvements seeming to work well,” said the seven-time World Champ.

“Saying that, the other teams have improved too, so without having had a chance to look deeper into the data, I would say that we may be fighting for the third row.

“We will continue to work further on our performance for tomorrow.”

As for Nico Rosberg, he finished P6 and reckons Mercedes GP are moving in the right direction.

“It was a good day in terms of set-up and we learned quite a few things about our car.

“Of course, it’s difficult to say where we really are because the hard tyres didn’t work so well today and it was very windy.

“However, we had a nice long run and our preparation with the car is certainly better compared to the last race.

“The updates are working quite well so far, and thanks for that to the boys in the factory.”