Nico Rosberg has been somewhat ambiguous when it comes to what to expect of him in today’s all crucial qualifying session for the Monaco Grand Prix.
The German was a surprising second quickest in Thursday warm up, just under four tenths of a second shy of his rival and chum Lewis Hamilton.
In his Friday press release the Williams driver revealed that he has yet to get the best out of his FW30 and that the Grove based outfit would head into qualifying with “reserves up our sleeves”.
“We didn’t finish the session using our optimum set-up,” revealed the 22-year-old, “but we know where we need to go and we still have some reserves up our sleeves, so I am pretty happy with how things are looking.
“I was going well all day and felt comfortable in the car. I am also able to push quite hard so I’m hoping that I can keep it up do a good job in qualifying and then have a good race.”
However, on Friday he was quick to downplay possibility of maintaining second place: “I do not think it will be repeatable for qualifying,” the Monaco resident told the Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell.
“I do think we can be among the fastest six though. I am glad that we seem to be pretty good, but we must also be careful. To beat Ferrari in qualifying is going to be very, very difficult.”
Rosberg’s team-mate Kazuki Nakajima lapped ninth quickest in second practice confirming Williams’ pace around the harbour streets. And the FW30’s new aero package, featuring a new engine ‘fin’ among other things, is reportedly working well.
It remains to be seen just how quick Rosberg can negotiate the Monaco streets in qualifying and whether he can put a smile on the face of Frank Williams who celebrates his 600th Grand Prix at the helm this weekend.
