• German Grand Prix

Damage limitation for Mercedes

Michael Schumacher leads Nico Rosberg before the duo swapped places © Getty Images

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• Race:
• German Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Nico Rosberg
• |
• Michael Schumacher

• Teams:
• Mercedes

Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher admitted there was not much more they could have done after a frustrating German Grand Prix saw them finish in 8th and 9th respectively on home soil.

"We made the best of our situation today but it is frustrating after being on the podium at the last race," said Rosberg. "Achieving eighth place is damage limitation really and we were able to minimise the loss to Robert in terms of points but it has generally been a struggle this weekend. My strategy was good and the guys made a fantastic effort with my pit stop being the quickest of the race. There are surely better times ahead in Hungary."

Schumacher, who was bullish about the team's chances of a top five finish before qualifying, echoed his team-mates sentiments when he said there was not much more the team could have done to achieve a higher finish.

"I had a pretty good start today but from then onwards, there was not much more that we could do," said Schumacher. "We were targeting to stay out long but we changed the strategy to react to the circumstances and maybe I could have finished slightly higher. But in the end, that would not have changed much in a race where we had hoped to be more competitive. What we achieved after my stop was the maximum that was possible.

"Of course I would have wished for more, especially as our race performance tends to be better than qualifying, but it did not work out. We will certainly not get nervous but we have to sit down, analyse the reasons and put the right solutions in place."

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