Schumacher admits Mercedes too slow

MICHAEL Schumacher said he felt his Mercedes car was not quick enough to challenge rival teams after another disappointing performance in qualifying here on Saturday for the European Grand Prix.

According to KHABAR KHODRO, The 42-year-old will start Sunday's race at the Valencia street circuit in eighth place behind his Mercedes team-mate and fellow German Nico Rosberg.

The seven times champion conceded that he could have performed marginally better, but said it was unrealistic to expect Mercedes to be challenging rivals McLaren and Ferrari.

'I am OK with today's qualifying result which I would say was an average one,' said Schumacher. 'I might have improved by one place but in the penultimate slow corner, I attacked a bit too early, got oversteer and had to lift for a moment which cost me the place to Nico.

'But all in all, we came in where we had expected to finish. It would be optimistic in my view to expect that we can attack the cars in front of us tomorrow because I think our starting positions realistically reflect where we stand at the moment. 'So let's see how the race develops and what we can make out of it tomorrow.'