Manama // Nico Rosberg said he had only himself to blame after slipping to third on the grid in qualifying for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix – knocked off the front row by the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.
The German, 29, ended up more than half a second adrift of his Mercedes teammate and defending world champion, Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel, who has overhauled Rosberg in the championship, split the two Silver Arrows for the first time this year to confirm Ferrari’s revival.
“Strategy-wise, I got it wrong,” Rosberg said. “I was thinking too much about the race and I underestimated Sebastian’s speed. I took it easy in Q2 to save the race tyres, so I lacked the rhythm for Q3.
“That’s where I went wrong today. Being third is not ideal.
“I didn’t expect to go on used tyres in the first part of Q3. I thought we would go with two new soft sets of tyres and I didn’t expect the used tyre to be so slow.
“The used tyre was really, really poor. I thought it would be good, especially as I took it easy on that used tyre in Q1 as well.
“But it was really poor so that meant I only had a shot at the end and it was just poor management, especially as Sebastian is in front, otherwise it would have been OK.”
Asked to clarify if it was poor management by him, or by the team, he said: “My side – we’re together, but I’m responsible.”
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Vettel was understandably delighted to split the Mercedes men for the first time in dry conditions.
“I didn’t find the rhythm to begin with, but at the end it was getting better and I could push,” the German four-time champion said.
“I’m very happy with the front row – in the race we are maybe a bit closer so let’s see what happens.”
At the other end of the grid, Jenson Button remained calm and diplomatic despite another day of setbacks that left him starting from the final spot. The 2009 world champion, who was left stranded on track twice in his McLaren Honda on Friday, had another car failure before he had delivered a competitive time at the start of yesterday’s hour of floodlit fast laps. The team said his car had experienced an electrical failure.
“Just like yesterday, there was bang and the car just shut down although it did it in a different way,” Button said.
“It was a lot more aggressive and actually a little scary in the cockpit. It’s frustrating when you can’t even do a lap.”
The Briton, 35, was unruffled and said he felt optimistic about the future despite all the problems.
“Everything has come at once this weekend, but the important thing is that we are improving,” he said.
“Fernando got into Q2, which is a good step for us. It’s a pity, I could not be there as well, but there’s definitely improvement and we’ve got to stay positive.”
Button’s composure seemed to be at odds with the body language of team chief Ron Dennis in the McLaren garage.
“You see us on TV and obviously pick up on every smile or frown or anything you see, but things are different in reality,” Dennis said.
But Button said: “We’re frustrated, but also know there’s a lot of work needed to do and we are improving all the time. We knew it was going to be a hard start to the year, but at this part of the season there have been more positives than negatives.”
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