F1: Schumacher Surprised By Mercedes Pace

Formula 1

F1: Schumacher Surprised By Mercedes Pace

Michael Schumacher qualified third in China but will move up to second on the grid...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted April 14, 2012 Shanghai (CHN)

Mercedes was the first team to use the controversial double DRS system, moving Lotus to lodge an official protest. (Photo: Getty Images)

Michael Schumacher says that he was surprised that Mercedes had the pace to earn pole in China.

Schumacher was third fastest in qualifying, but a penalty for Lewis Hamilton means that he moves up to join teammate Nico Rosberg on the front row.

“Looking at yesterday, I didn’t think it would be enough to fight for pole position,” said Schumacher. “And looking at what Nico was able to do, obviously I think it’s a little surprise for all of us, but nevertheless, the gap looked a little bit bigger than it finally was today, and good for us. Let’s hope we can keep it that way. Obviously the further forward we are the better the prospects are for tomorrow.”

Schumacher said the team did not anticipate a specific tire issue.

“No, we don’t have a particular problem,” he said. “It’s just a question of how the general speed on high fuel compares to the others, what that means, and then obviously you have tire degradation, everybody has it, some have more, some have less. But for me, I guess it will be the first proper race which I’m hopefully going to finish, and I will tell more at the end!

“My two races, one I retired and the other one I got put backwards by being spun around, so it’s not completely clear what we would have seen with our car. It’s certainly a question mark whether we would have been able to keep up that position, but we’ll try our best to do so.”

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.

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