Schumacher encouraged by wet-weather pace
Michael Schumacher said he would welcome more wet weather at Silverstone on Sunday after securing third place on the grid for Mercedes during Saturday's qualifying session for the British Grand Prix.
Schumacher, 43, spun during the opening mini-session but recomposed himself and wound up just two tenths of a second slower than pole-taker Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.
The seven-time champion said he was pleased with how well his car coped with the extreme conditions at the Northampton-based circuit and fancied his chances of a strong result if it continues to rain during the race.
"Naturally I'm pleased with today's result" he said, "after all, we're in the top three again.
"It didn't look so good before the break in Q2 because my visor was completely misted up and that meant I had some excitement during that lap! But then everything went well in Q3. We were competitive on both the intermediate and wet tyres, so I would welcome more rain tomorrow.
Schumacher, who spun in the opening mini-session, added that he had not driven on the limit during his final few laps as he ws unsure of his tyre choice and did not want to risk going off the track.
He said: "I think it was only initially difficult to decide, but when you give it a watch and see what others are doing it was clear inter was the tyre to be on, but I didn't want to make a mistake so I left a margin.
"Nevertheless to finish third was good for us. I am quite pleased for this. It's a good position to start the race from and depending on the conditions we have tomorrow maybe I am on the lucky side as it might be drier. But mixed conditions will be very much appreciated by me."
His teammate and German compatriot Nico Rosberg did not make the final qualifying session and will start in 11th position. In spite of this, he was feeling positive about his chances in the race and paid tribute to the fans for sticking around despite the conditions.
He said: "I wasn't quick enough in general today, and we need to understand why that happened as it's a bit surprising really as yesterday I was quicker in the same conditions.
"But I'm still confident for tomorrow and looking forward to the race as this year, it's possible to score good points even when you are starting from a long way back.
"Thanks to the fans who were here today. Even when there was heavy rain and we were not driving for a long time, they created a great atmosphere."
