Merhi and Juncadella banking on race strategy

Mercedes’ young Spanish drivers, Daniel Juncadella and Roberto Merhi, are hoping that strategy  and varied weather conditions will help move them through the field after they qualified 14th and 20th respectively.

Juncadella, who made his debut at Hockenheim this season, is the only one of the Mercedes drivers to have not scored a point so far this season.

The Spaniard qualified 14th yesterday at Spielberg, but despite the relatively low position, he is not disappointed with the result as he believes he can optimise a strategy which will see him benefit from the varied weather conditions forecast for this afternoon’s race.

“I’m quite happy with my position overall and  no doubt about it, this result represents an improvement as compared to Brands Hatch.

“My car felt good and I expect another exciting race tomorrow, particularly in view of the weather forecast. If conditions out on track are variable, I hope to utilise strategy to move one or two places up the field.”

The RSC-Mucke driver also believes he could have gone faster, had it not been for an error in strategy and an on-track mistake.

“Maybe using only one set of tyres in the second qualifying session was not the best way to go, but I have to admit to making one or two mistakes and so did not improve in the end.”

Juncadella’s stablemate and compatriot, Roberto Merhi, however, was disappointed after qualifying 20th.

The HWA driver claims he is unsure how and why he lost so much time in qualifying, but said his main problem was in sector two.

As a result, he will be looking to emulate the Brands Hatch drives of team-mates Gary Paffett and Robert Wickens, which saw them move from 11th and 13th to top-six positions come the end of the race.

“It’s a pity, but qualifying did not go as I’d hoped [and] I don’t know exactly what the problem was.

“I think I probably lost most time in the second sector. Now we need to analyse the data and focus on the race.

“My team-mates proved at Brands Hatch that you can still move up the field a fair number of positions with the right strategy and good race pace.”