Mercedes GP, on the other hand, only scored the 7th best time of the week on the Spanish venue, and that can't be overlooked by the German officials at Brackley. The motorsport director for the Stuttgart-based company Norbert Haug admitted that his organization is running a little bit behind for the time being, but admitted his confidence into Ross Brawn changing things around by the beginning of the season.
“Our speed could be better, but everything is in the right direction. There are still more than four weeks until the first race and our car is going to change greatly,” said Haug, according to a report from the GMM news agency.
Michael Schumacher was even less optimistic than his boss after his last outing on the Valencia track. After admitting that Ferrari looks very strong in terms of car performance, the German driver acknowledged that his team will have to play catch-up until the season opening Bahrain GP. Despite scoring a better time than his teammate Nico Rosberg, Schu was not very confident in a winning race in the first few grands prix of the season.
“I think we are behind somewhat. I do not assume that we are equal to the fastest ones or ready to win the first race, but that is not important. What is important is to be able to achieve good points from the beginning and then to develop well,” said the 41-year old, according to Germany's Bild newspaper.
Additionally, Ross Brawn positioned his team behind Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton after the first test of the season – curiously enough, we thought it was called McLaren Mercedes, but anyway – concluding that “it looks like we've got a bit of work to do.”
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