Previewing the upcoming race in Shanghai, Brawn admitted that he is now in a position that he didn't want to be in at the beginning of the season, but the development path picked up by Mercedes GP in recent grands prix is more than encouraging for the future (after all, Nico Rosberg did score the team's first podium this year).
“We've achieved a reasonable set of results which are in line with the car's current pace but we have to be realistic and acknowledge that we are not quick enough to compete right at the front at the moment. This is obviously not a situation that we are happy with and we are working as hard as possible to close the gap,” said Brawn.
Additionally, he praised the Mercedes W01's reliability for the first 3 races of the season, especially since the car experienced some totally opposite weather conditions between Bahrain and Malaysia. Apart from Schumacher's wheelnut problem at Sepang, the 2010 challenger has performed as expected, without any major issues, argued Brawn.
Michael Schumacher himself insisted that the problems he experienced in Sepang don't mean he is not on an ascending trend in the series, and looks forward to the race in Shanghai to prove it.
“Admittedly the last two races have not been very fortunate for me but I am very much aware of the reasons for it. I know how things go in F1 and if you look into the detail of the two races, I think everything is still going according to plan. You can only improve step-by-step and I am confident that we are achieving this,” said Schu.
His teammate Nico Rosberg also looks forward to next weekend's race, especially since he comes after a great result in Malaysia.
“Achieving my first podium with the team in Malaysia at the last race was fantastic and I'm looking forward to continuing our consistent run of good results in China next weekend,” added the German driver.
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