Schumi: Now F1 gets more intense

Editor

Michael Schumacher believes Mercedes GP can build on their Chinese GP progress when they head to Turkey next weekend…

Michael Schumacher believes Mercedes GP can build on their Chinese GP progress when they head to Turkey next weekend.

Schumacher’s team-mate Nico Rosberg came to the fore last time out in Shanghai, claiming fourth place on the grid. The younger German eventually finished P5 after leading the grand prix for a number of laps.

It was, Schumacher is hoping, a sign of things to come.

“It is always exciting when the calendar returns to Europe and the racing schedule becomes more intense,” said Schumacher.

“After returning from the first three races, I have enjoyed spending some time with my family in the short break, and I am now really looking forward to the action getting underway again.

“The venue for our next race, Istanbul Park, is a great track and provides a good challenge for the drivers. It’s anti-clockwise, has a lot of gradient changes and different corner layouts, so it’s quite nice to drive.

“I know that the team have been working very hard to continue the progress that we made during the last race weekend in China and, with the help of some developments planned for Istanbul, I am confident that we can enjoy an equally positive weekend.”

Schumacher’s sentiments were echoed by Rosberg, who reckons after a trying start to the Championship, his team have finally turned a corner.

“We had a more difficult start to 2011 than we had expected, and the first three races felt a little like a rollercoaster of emotions.

“We were all disappointed in Melbourne and Malaysia but, after leading the race in Shanghai, we have confirmed the potential of our car.

“The team did a very good job to take a step forward and we learned a lot from the weekend. Hopefully we can now make a further step for Turkey and produce another positive performance.”