• German Grand Prix - Qualifying

'The team made a mistake' - Rosberg

ESPN Staff
July 6, 2013 « Vettel 'tried everything' to get pole | Alonso's confidence boosted by Ferrari showing »
Nico Rosberg: "It will definitely be tough to digest that one" © Sutton Images
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Nico Rosberg is confident he would have been on the front row of the grid alongside team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the German Grand Prix had he not dropped out of qualifying in Q2 due to a strategic mistake by his team.

Rosberg set a banker lap early in the second qualifying session hoping it would be enough to see him through to the top-ten shootout. However, as the track conditions improved towards the end of Q2, Rosberg's name plummeted down the timing screens and he was left 11th and below the cut when the chequered flag fell.

"The team just made a mistake and underestimated the track ramping up," he said. "That's a big disappointment and I didn't see that coming. It would have been easy to be on the front row today so it will definitely be tough to digest that one. That will take a bit of time."

He is not confident about his chances of a good finish from 11th on the grid but is hoping Mercedes has made another step forward with its tyre degradation issues.

"Tomorrow, starting from 11th, it's not going to be possible to do much but I'll give it everything anyway. Degradation wise we are better, but the new tyres haven't come to our advantage now - especially in qualifying. On race pace we are okay so I'll just have to think about what I can do from 11th tomorrow."

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