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Rosberg praises Mercedes turnaround after FP3

Nico Rosberg praised Mercedes for finding more one lap pace after FP3 to secure pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix.

In final practice, Rosberg struggled on his qualifying simulation and was 0.75s off the pace of pace-setter Kimi Raikkonen. With high track temperatures and high tyre pressures at Spa-Francorchamps, Rosberg says Mercedes was simply not quick enough ahead of qualifying before recovering to take pole position in a close session.

“We have had a difficult weekend up to now, especially this morning," Rosberg said. "We were seriously off the pace on one lap so it really wasn’t so easy coming into qualifying but we got the job done in the end.

"We really made quite a few changes on the car going into qualifying and we found the right way. It all came together and I was feeling good, so I’m very pleased about that one.

REPORT: Rosberg edges out Verstappen and Raikkonen for pole at Spa

“We just weren’t quick because it’s very hot out there and because the Pirelli tyre pressures are very high here for this weekend. So it was just a bit of a different world out there and we really had to change a lot of things and adapt, so it was great to see how we managed to turn it around and get there eventually just in time for qualifying. This morning in FP3 we were still quite a long way off the pace still.”

Rosberg ended up just 0.149s clear of Max Verstappen, with Raikkonen only 0.017s further back. The German acknowledges the signs are he will have a fight on his hands in Sunday's race despite team-mate Lewis Hamilton starting from the back of the grid.

“Happy to be on pole but the only thing is it’s going to be a very challenging race because the tyres are extremely difficult out there this weekend and strategy and everything is going to be very, very interesting.

"I think we’re going to see a bit of everything, then with Max being on supersoft and Kimi on soft there’s going to be a whole load of things going on so it will definitely not be an easy one.

“Definitely it is a very different situation out there with the temperature and the tyre pressures we have, and [Ferrari and Red Bull] are very close, yeah. Tomorrow it’s going to be a very, very demanding race against both of them.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.