>Niko Rosberg

I’m pleased to be starting from sixth place as we didn’t think we would be that far forward today, so it’s an unexpected and pleasant surprise. We are a long way from the front which is a concern but we took everything that we could from today and I am happy with our performance. We did a very good job with the set-up which meant we could get the best out of the car. Hopefully I can have a good start and our aim as always is to make up a few more places and get some decent points again.

It was an interesting day and even though we have taken a small step back with our upgrades, the car seems to work as it should. The track was unexpectedly fast so we had to do some different things with the set-up just to get a feel for it. My lap time wasn’t particularly representative as I didn’t set a time because of the traffic so I think we look to be in our general position behind the frontrunners at the moment.

Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg is in a perfect place. His first win might still be proving elusive, but his standing in the paddock has rocketed since he’s been outperforming seven-time champion team mate Michael Schumacher. So, with the pressure off, when that maiden victory finally comes his way, he’ll be ready for it… Read more at Formula1.com

Budapest is a great city and the atmosphere there and at the track over the race weekend is very vibrant so I always enjoy visiting. The Hungaroring is one of those tracks that provides a real technical challenge and it is good fun to drive. Overtaking is difficult there so qualifying is really important and you need to start from as high up the grid as possible. Qualifying hasn’t been our strong point recently so we will be working hard on our preparations over the weekend to give us the best chance in the race. I had a strong weekend in Hungary last year, finishing in fourth place, and it would be nice to be competing towards the front again this time around.

We made the best of our situation today but it is frustrating after being on the podium at the last race. Achieving eighth place is damage limitation really and we were able to minimise the loss to Robert in terms of points but it has generally been a struggle this weekend. My strategy was good and the guys made a fantastic effort with my pit stop being the quickest of the race. There are surely better times ahead in Hungary.

I was hoping for a strong weekend here in Hockenheim in front of our fans but unfortunately I struggled a lot in qualifying today. It’s really disappointing and it seems that we are just not making our developments work as well as we hoped this weekend which we need to look into. I hope that we find the problem with the car otherwise it is difficult to explain why we are not closer to the front. I had a lot of oversteer and that made it really difficult as I had to keep coming down on the front wing levels which did not help. I will do my best tomorrow to achieve a good result but it will be difficult from this position.

Mercedes GP’s Nico Rosberg has grown in self confidence since his Silverstone podium couple of weeks back. It is obvious in the way he walks, the way he talks and the way he interacts with the media. Read Q&A at Formula1.com

Drivers and team representatives: Norbert Haug (Mercedes), Nico Hulkenberg (Williams), Monisha Kaltenborn (Sauber), Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Adam Parr (Williams), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes). Friday’s press conference in Germany to be found at Formula1.com