Mercedes AMG Petronas
Nico Rosberg says he underestimated the threat posed by Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel as his compatriot beat him during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the fourth successive race but his nearest rival was Ferrari's Vettel, as Rosberg finished in third position.
"Strategy wise today I got it wrong," Rosberg said. "I was thinking too much about the race and I underestimated Sebastian’s speed."
Also [I underestimated] how much it would cost me, taking it easy in Q2 with the set of race tyres, I just lacked the rhythm as a result, I had one shot at the end [of Q3] with a new set after starting Q3 with an old set so that’s where I went wrong today and disappointed because Sebastian beat me, if I was second it would be damage limitation but third it’s not ideal."
Pole man Hamilton said he was pleased to have a car with which he felt comfortable as he took his first Bahrain pole.
"[I'm] very happy obviously, to come into the weekend that was the target, master the track and to get the car into an area I’m comfortable with and that’s generally how the weekend's gone, the laps were pretty good, [I] can always improve, [I'm] really grateful to have this beast underneath me, to attack these corners."
