Daniel Ricciardo secured third, with his teammate Max Verstappen grabbing 4th.
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Ricciardo admitted that he is highly impressed with the Hockenheimring and is eagerly waiting for the race on Sunday.
“A good start to the day and weekend in general”, said Verstappen.
He said: “We’re close enough; I said yesterday that, if we could be within half a second, that’s not a bad day in qualifying, so hopefully that means something tomorrow”.
“The second session was good, definite progress from the first as I continued to learn the track and get used to the vehicle here”.
“This afternoon’s race stint looked really good so if we can replicate what we did then on Sunday I think we can have a strong chance in the race”. The feeling in the team is very good at the moment.
Ricciardo ended the qualifying session four tenths behind pace-setter Rosberg, but the 27-year-old believes he is within striking distance to mount a serious challenge for race glory on Sunday. I think the radio rules make it nicer for the fans so they can hear what is going on and not just listen to commentary.
“You’ve got some tight corners which seem to be harder on the rear tyres but then the last sector has got a lot of longer corners where you can hurt the front, so trying to balance the vehicle isn’t always easy”.
“So we can definitely be pleased with this qualifying because even we were in front of the Ferrari quite comfortably, and that was very important for us”. On low fuel yesterday, Mercedes had a pretty good buffer over everyone, but, on the long run pace, we looked to be closer which gave us some optimism.
“To be able to put some pressure on them at some point in the race would be nice, but let’s see”. It’s my first time here in a Formula 1 auto and not an easy track to learn so I’m really pleased with today.
“It all looked very promising; hopefully we can have the same balance in the vehicle tomorrow”.
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“I think the fastest way around the track is within the track limits so we will try and keep to that”.
