Schumi: Motivation has been boosted

Editor

Despite not having the best of weekends himself in Turkey, Michael Schumacher says he has been “encouraged” by Merc GP’s improved form…

Despite not having the best of weekends himself in Turkey, Michael Schumacher says he has been “encouraged” by Merc GP’s improved form.

While Schumacher had an afternoon to forget last Sunday in Istanbul, his team-mate Nico Rosberg was once again racing near the front of the pack.

The younger German, who qualified P3 for the grand prix, finished in fifth place, equaling his best result of the season.

But while Mercedes GP are hitting form, Schumacher admits his turn has yet to come. However, he is hoping it will come in Spain.

“The Spanish GP is traditionally where it really feels like the European season gets underway and holds a lot of good memories for me.

“Of course, we know the Circuit de Catalunya very well from testing, but it will be interesting to see the effect of KERS, the DRS and the Pirelli tyres on a track where overtaking is always difficult.

“While I was not happy with my weekend in Turkey, there have been clear signs of improvements for us as a team, which obviously push and re-boost my motivation even more.

“It’s more than encouraging to see that the hard work of the team is starting to pay off. We are all determined to make progress.”

As for Rosberg, he’s happy with the team’s progress but admits they still need to do more.

“Our upward trend is clear for all to see, even though we still have a little more progress to make in race configuration compared to qualifying.

“I’m looking forward to Barcelona, where we will also be introducing an update package for the car, and I’m excited to see how it work.

“We showed a good level of performance at the final winter test on this circuit, and hopefully we can translate that into a strong result this weekend.”