Brawn emotional after Schumacher performance

Ross Brawn

Having worked with Michael Schumacher since the Benetton years of the early 1990s, Ross Brawn admits that he was transferred into an emotional state after Michael Schumacher sealed the top spot in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix. The seven-time Champion will, however, start from sixth place because of a five-place grid penalty.

“I have to confess, it brought a little tear to my eye," Team Principal Brawn told BBC Sport. “He’s faced some tough times since he’s come back and that was an exceptional performance. He’s been in good shape all weekend; we’ve done the preparation and race work, but it all seemed to come together in qualifying."

With Schumacher penalized for crashing into Bruno Senna last time out in Spain, Brawn admits that he is annoyed by the drop:

“It’s frustrating, that, but he couldn’t have done anything better than that. We had tire problems here last year so that is going to be the next challenge.

“I don’t think these are tires you ever get on top of, to be honest. You try to create a methodology but sometimes they just work in your favor…on Thursday Lotus looked unbeatable (and now they are not), so we will have to see what happens tomorrow."

As Mark Webber inherits pole position, the new leading Mercedes of Nico Rosberg is elevated to a front row grid spot for the start of Sunday’s race.