Turkey Sunday quotes: Mercedes

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   Sunday, May 30th 2010, 15:20 GMT

Michael Schumacher - 4th: "My race started as I had hoped when I was able to catch Jenson right at the start. Unfortunately I did not have a lot of grip with the tyres as the formation lap was quite slow and the pressures had gone down which combined with the top speed of the McLarens meant that I could not hold Jenson behind me for long. I was even struggling to keep the car on the track during the first lap. From there onwards, I was in my starting position and when Sebastian retired, we were able to pick up a place. That was about it. It was a straightforward race for me without any more possibilities. I understand at the front there was quite a bit happening so for the fans, it was a good show. All in all, I think we had a positive race and we clearly made a step forward towards Red Bull and in front of Ferrari, so we can be quite happy about that."

Nico Rosberg - 5th: "I am reasonably happy with fifth place today although it was an uneventful race for me. I was slightly faster than Michael for much of the race but it was not possible to overtake and I had to be careful as Robert was pushing hard behind me. For me, the most exciting part of the race were the in and out laps for my pit stop which were pretty fast and together with the great work from the team, that enabled me to stay ahead of the cars just behind me on track. Although our general pace still has to be improved, I'm satisfied that we have taken what we could from this weekend."

Ross Brawn: "A solid performance today in which we achieved the potential of the car with both drivers. We had a purposefully quiet early part of race as we were unable to challenge the leading group and therefore decided to save our tyres for the second half. Michael, Nico and the team did an extremely good job with the car that we had and once again our pit stops were very impressive. Compliments to them all today. We have made reasonable progress with our latest set of upgrades thanks for the hard work of everyone at the factory but clearly we have a lot of work still to do."

Norbert Haug: "Fourth and fifth positions for Michael and Nico were the best results we could achieve today as our pace was only ok in the last third of the race. We are aware that we need further improvements and we definitely will get them. Congratulations to McLaren Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton for achieving the 71st victory for Mercedes-Benz since our first win with David Coulthard in a McLaren Mercedes in Melbourne 1997. Four Mercedes-powered cars came home in the top five today which is a remarkable result, especially for our hard-working engine guys, so well done to you all."

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Mercedes still hoping for more in 2010

By Jonathan Noble    Monday, May 31st 2010, 15:20 GMT

Michael Schumacher, Turkish GPMercedes GP may be making progress with the development of its car, but motorsport boss Norbert Haug says the outfit will not be satisfied until it is winning.

Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg delivered a fourth and fifth-placed finishes for Mercedes GP in Istanbul, as the outfit led the chasing pack behind Red Bull Racing and McLaren.

But despite having edged clear of Ferrari in Turkey, and the longer wheelbase upgrade package having helped deliver a better car, Haug says the team is still hungry to improve.

"I would hope for more," Haug told AUTOSPORT. "We want to be a winning team, but we need to be patient and we need to keep working hard.

"The car is very reliable, all the ingredients are there, and regularly we do the best pit-stops. We need to just realise that and close the gap to the front.

"Ferrari is a question mark as we don't know if they could have been faster, and they certainly did not have a very strong weekend, but it is still not good enough. Having said that, we were good as a team, we are composed, concentrated, but we need a lot more speed."

Haug has said that despite Mercedes GP not winning the race, he still took satisfaction from McLaren's 1-2 finish.

"All in all we need to improve our speed and we are working on that, but generally speaking it is fine for us if McLaren wins," he said. "If we cannot win, it is good. And I think even if the Red Bulls would not have crashed the race was not over.

"It was the 71st victory for us since 1997, which is quite a number, and I think that statistically it is every fourth race that we have won."