Michael Schumacher proclaimed himself "satisfied" with seventh place on the grid ahead of his comeback race in Bahrain.
Seven-times World Champion getting into the swing of things
Michael Schumacher proclaimed himself "satisfied" with seventh place on the grid ahead of his comeback race in Bahrain and promised that there will be more to come during the season.
Contesting his first qualifying session in almost three-and-a-half years, the 41-year-old was a relatively low-key presence at the Sakhir circuit as his Mercedes GP team struggled to match pacesetters Red Bull and Ferrari.
The seven-times World Champion ended qualifying two places and 0.283 seconds behind team-mate Nico Rosberg and admitted that he needed time to re-adjust to the demands of a grand prix weekend.
"I am satisfied with seventh place today having been away from Formula One for such a long time. By coincidence, it's the same grid position that I had when I started my career at Spa in 1991," said Schumacher, who neglected to mention that, on that occasion, he retired on the opening lap of the race with a clutch problem.
He added: "It was fun to work with my new team and I appreciate all their efforts to support me as I get back into the swing of things. The boys are really good and I feel that we've improved step-by-step over the weekend.
"I'm looking forward to the race and I expect even more to come."
Hoping for more
Rosberg, meanwhile, said he was disappointed not to be higher than fifth on the grid given the pace he had shown during practice.
The 24-year-old German was quickest overall on Friday and second only to Ferrari's Fernando Alonso on Saturday morning.
"To be honest, we were hoping for a bit more today although we were lacking the pace to challenge right at the front so I guess we should not be too disappointed," he said.
"It was so difficult out there with the tyres overheating. If you made a small mistake and got oversteer, then you lost a lot of grip for the next few corners.
"It's going to be very important to look after the tyres tomorrow in the race. Overall it's a good start for me and with a bit of luck, we should be able to challenge for a podium place tomorrow."
Explaining the drop-off in performance over the two days, team boss Ross Brawn said: "The balance of the car suffered between practice and qualifying, possibly due to the increasing track temperatures, and we lost some pace as a result.
"Nico drove very well today in all sessions and Michael, taking part in his first qualifying session since 2006, is getting back into the rhythm as he gets more miles in the car."
