• British Grand Prix - Qualifying
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Schumacher hopes for wet race

ESPN Staff
July 7, 2012 « Driver made the difference - Webber | 'Tough day' for Vettel at Silverstone »
Michael Schumacher was 0.274s slower than Fernando Alonso's pole time © Press Association
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Michael Schumacher admits a wet race on Sunday for the British Grand Prix would be "welcome" for Mercedes.

Following on from his third place in Valencia, Schumacher used all of his experience to take third on the grid in wet conditions at Silverstone. With the track always improving following a long rain delay Schumacher said that he had found the car was strong on both sets of wet tyre and praised his team for helping him secure a top three grid position.

"I think we look reasonably competitive in wet conditions, either on intermediates or heavy wets," Schumacher said. "So therefore rain is welcome tomorrow. It was a bit of an exciting session today - particularly Q2 as I had the wrong visor on that didn't have anti-fog. So not much visibility and I found myself sideways in Becketts which didn't help either!

"We recovered well in the delay and got back in our rhythm. I'm very happy to be third - it's good for the team, good for my boys and thanks to all of the guys."

Mercedes' Norbert Haug even believed that Schumacher could have had pole position with a better first sector on his final lap.

"It's fair to say that Michael had a chance of setting pole today, as his second and third sector times on his last flying lap proved," Haug said. "However in the closing stages he only had one lap on inters and, although he was seven-tenths slower in the first sector compared to the best split time, he was less than three-tenths down at the end of the lap. Starting from third is a good base for Michael and our team tomorrow."

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