F1: Schumacher Starts Penultimate Face From Fifth

Formula 1

F1: Schumacher Starts Penultimate Face From Fifth

Michael Schumacher exceeded his expectations in Austin GP qualifying...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted November 17, 2012 Austin, TX

Michael Schumacher will retire for the second time after next weekend's final race of 2012. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Michael Schumacher could enjoy one of the best races of his season after qualifying fifth in Austin for his penultimate F1 start.

Schumacher took sixth place on merit and then gained a spot from Romain Grosjean’s gearbox penalty. Crucially, he is on the clean side of the track.

“We were anticipating just to get into the top 10,” he told SPEED.com. “That’s what we were thinking could be good for maybe seventh or eighth as a max. For it to be six and then five for the known reason is welcome, particularly being on the right side of the grid.”

Schumacher says that he got the tires to work in qualifying, when drivers had to run several laps to get them into the operating window.
“The point is that the tires are very crucial,” the seven-time champ said. “We’ve known this all year long. Here they are maybe a little bit more peaky, because of their behavior because of the track conditions and the circumstances.

“It was clearly going out for that lap because I tried already the lap before, or two laps before that, to set a time, and it wasn’t yet ready. Just everything was switched on and was there. The balance then fitted as well in that circumstance.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.