Nico Rosberg Q&A: Bahrain pole can kick start my season

It’s been a frustrating start to the 2013 season for Nico Rosberg. While new Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton has scored two podiums from the first three races, Rosberg has endured two retirements. But after scoring his first pole position of the year in Bahrain on Saturday, the German is hoping to get his campaign firmly back on track in Sakhir…
Q: Nico, congratulations on your pole position - the second for Mercedes in a week. How does that make you feel?
Nico Rosberg: We are absolutely happy. It feels very, very good. This pole position really all comes down to the work that we did last night, as yesterday we didn’t look good at all, as we were really struggling. We started optimizing everything last night, and also this morning, and we saw that we were getting closer and closer, and in the end managed to stay on pole. It is not one single issue that we found and changed, it is a lot of small details on the set-up that we had optimized. Looking from my point of view, I take this opportunity with my pole position to kick start my season, as for me there has not been one weekend where things didn’t go wrong somehow. And today everything went quite smoothly, and with this I managed to be on pole, so let’s hope for the best.
Q: What does this pole position mean for the race tomorrow?
NR: Ah, tomorrow’s race will be a totally different story to be honest. The rear degradation is very intense here, and also the temperature of course, so we cannot make any prediction. What we know though is that there have been a few other teams that looked very strong, and we will have to count with all of them as well. We have seen that today’s pole position doesn’t automatically mean we’ll win.
Q: When did you realize that you had really got the time that would make you the polesitter?
NR: Only at the very end, as many cars were still on a timed lap after I had already finished with my last try. For sure I felt that I had done a quick lap, but I did not know if it was quick enough for the pole.
Q: How do you see the strategy for the race then? Will it look like China?
NR: For sure we have to try and make the tyres work as long as possible. I think that teams will either be on a three-, or even just on a two-stop strategy, probably even us. But a two-stop strategy will really be on the edge, as the tyre degradation is super intense. It will be a very demanding race tomorrow - for driver, car and tyres - and I really hope that all the work we’ve done in the last 24 hours will pay off and that we have reasons to cheer again tomorrow.