Photo: Daimler Global Media

Mercedes disappointed with qualifying result

Mercedes Benz hoped the new aero package in their cars would have got them better results in today’s qualifying session in Hockenheim. Pascal Wehrlein (HWA) was the best placed driver for the Stuttgart manufacturer in sixth position, with Paul Di Resta also making it into the top ten.

It was a very close qualifying session today, with 22 drivers within a second. Pascal Wehrlein did the best he could to get his C-Coupé DTM in sixth final position, just 0.173 seconds behind pole sitter Miguel Molina, and after a start of the day the young German classed as “disastrous”.

Wehrlein commented on his result: “In the circumstances, P6 is a respectable result for us. It’s perhaps not the outcome that we had expected, but we can achieve a lot from this position on the grid. We had some difficulties in free practice, but that’s fairly standard if you’ve brought along new parts and you’ve not had a lot of time to try them out. We’ve improved the car since this morning. We’re expecting a tough race tomorrow, but I’ll be going all out on the attack in this last race of the season.”

Paul Di Resta had a reasonable day, climbing up to tenth position: “I’m reasonably satisfied with my result. It’s a little bit frustrating. We were in good shape for Q3. We had two sets of tyres left over thanks to our speed in Q1. We’ve got a very good setup and I’m very confident with where the car is. Hopefully we can put something together tomorrow for a strong race.”

Gary Paffett, the first confirmed driver for the 2015 season, had a difficult day, only being able to manage 16th position for tomorrow’s grid: “This result is obviously very disappointing. We expected to have a better performance this weekend, but it’s still difficult for the whole team to get close to the front. The car doesn’t feel that bad. In fact, it feels quite good. But it’s not perfect yet. I didn’t get the best out of it on my lap in Q2. That’s a bit disappointing but I think we still lack a bit of pace in the car as well.”

Christian Vietoris, who was the first one to try the new aero package two weeks ago in Zandvoort, had a myriad of problems starting right in free practice 1. The young German was only able to manage 22nd and last-but-one for tomorrow’s grid, in what promises to be a complicated race for him in order to finish second in the championship: “What a tough Saturday that was. It started badly this morning in free practice when I had a few problems. This is not the grid position that we were hoping for in our challenge to clinch the championship runner-up spot. All the same, we’ll be doing our very best tomorrow to secure a points finish.”

Totto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, was at hand to supervise the operations in the manufacturer’s home race, and he hopes to improve for tomorrow’s race: “It didn’t go well for us. Pascal’s sixth position on the grid is, of course, not where we want to be. However, today’s qualifying was really close as regards to lap times. We’ve got a brand new car here with lots of new parts. When you drive a new car for the first time, it’s never easy to get everything out of it immediately with little practice time. Now, we’ll continue to work hard in order to finish the season with a successful result in tomorrow’s race.”

Christian Vietoris would have to finish at least in third position in tomorrow’s race in order to have options to be second in the championship.