• Korean Grand Prix - qualifying

Schumacher blames unknown vibrations

ESPNF1 Staff
October 15, 2011 « Massa happy with qualifying improvement | Senna blames lack of running for qualifying performance »
Michael Schumacher was exactly 0.1s away from making it through to Q3 © Sutton Images
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Michael Schumacher blamed an unknown vibration for his poor performance in qualifying for the Korean Grand Prix.

Schumacher carried out one run in the second qualifying session, but his lap was only good enough for ninth place. When the rest of the field carried out its second runs Schumacher was knocked down to 11th and out of qualifying, and he said that while the strategy was the right one, the vibrations prevented him setting a competitive lap time.

"To start with the positives of today's qualifying, I have saved two fresh sets of option tyres which is always helpful," Schumacher said. "On the other hand, it was obviously a pity what happened. Everything went normally in Q1, and from what you can expect of the tyres under normal circumstances, it was absolutely justified to go for just one run in Q2. But unfortunately I could feel that something was not right when leaving the pits as I had vibrations straight away."

Schumacher said that he was left with no time to respond to the problem, and that he would spend the night investigating the issue.

"All that was left for us to do was hope that the gap would be big enough to remain in the top ten but that turned out not to be the case. We will now have a close look into what exactly happened and fully concentrate on trying to make up some positions in the race tomorrow."

Nico Rosberg had a more productive session but admitted seventh was as high as he could aim for in the race.

"I'm quite pleased with today," Rosberg said. "To find the right set-up for the qualifying and the race is always a compromise, particularly after such limited dry running, so I'm happy that we saved one set of option tyres. It will be tough to catch one of the top six drivers tomorrow but hopefully I'll have a good start and may be able to gain a position there. It will be an interesting race from the tyre perspective with a lot of stops, and I'm confident that our boys will do a great job in the pits again."

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