ISTANBUL, May 7 (Reuters) - Mercedes are catching up with Formula One's leaders and have more speed in the pipeline, Germany's Nico Rosberg said on Saturday after qualifying third for the Turkish Grand Prix.
"It's fantastic to see the progress that we are making," he told reporters.
"When you compare it to four races ago, where we were and where we are now, one-tenth behind the slowest Red Bull in qualifying in Turkey. It's great."
Rosberg's team mate, seven times world champion Michael Schumacher was just one thousandth of a second slower than Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel in final practice but qualified eighth.
That was still the 42-year-old's highest grid position of the four races so far this season. Rosberg's previous year's best was fourth in China last month.
"I am very optimistic now for the future also, for the next few weeks and races," he said. "We have more upgrades coming and things are going in the right direction and we are getting closer to where we were hoping to be."
Rosberg has yet to win a grand prix and is now in his sixth season in the sport. Schumacher, who began his comeback last year after three seasons out, has not stepped on the podium since he was at Ferrari in 2006.
Neither Mercedes driver finished the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with Schumacher retiring and Rosberg sidelined after a collision, but the team has improved the car since then.
Both Rosberg and Schumacher saved a set of new soft tyres in qualifying on Saturday, as did the Red Bull drivers, a tactical move that will also stand them in good stead for the race at a challenging track.
"In Barcelona we came to the last (pre-season) test quite late with all the new car parts," said team boss Ross Brawn. "And the car looked okay but we didn't have a lot of experience with the package.
"When we got to the first two races we had reliability problems, issues with the rear wing and other problems with KERS (the kinetic energy recovery system).
"In that process we lost our direction on how to set the car up. After Malaysia we had a big push to make sure everything started to work properly...and then we also took a step back and thought through how we were setting the car up," he said.
"We realised that probably with these (Pirelli) tyres we weren't necessarily going in the right direction."
"It's fantastic to see the progress that we are making," he told reporters.
"When you compare it to four races ago, where we were and where we are now, one-tenth behind the slowest Red Bull in qualifying in Turkey. It's great."
Rosberg's team mate, seven times world champion Michael Schumacher was just one thousandth of a second slower than Red Bull's world champion Sebastian Vettel in final practice but qualified eighth.
That was still the 42-year-old's highest grid position of the four races so far this season. Rosberg's previous year's best was fourth in China last month.
"I am very optimistic now for the future also, for the next few weeks and races," he said. "We have more upgrades coming and things are going in the right direction and we are getting closer to where we were hoping to be."
Rosberg has yet to win a grand prix and is now in his sixth season in the sport. Schumacher, who began his comeback last year after three seasons out, has not stepped on the podium since he was at Ferrari in 2006.
Neither Mercedes driver finished the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with Schumacher retiring and Rosberg sidelined after a collision, but the team has improved the car since then.
Both Rosberg and Schumacher saved a set of new soft tyres in qualifying on Saturday, as did the Red Bull drivers, a tactical move that will also stand them in good stead for the race at a challenging track.
"In Barcelona we came to the last (pre-season) test quite late with all the new car parts," said team boss Ross Brawn. "And the car looked okay but we didn't have a lot of experience with the package.
"When we got to the first two races we had reliability problems, issues with the rear wing and other problems with KERS (the kinetic energy recovery system).
"In that process we lost our direction on how to set the car up. After Malaysia we had a big push to make sure everything started to work properly...and then we also took a step back and thought through how we were setting the car up," he said.
"We realised that probably with these (Pirelli) tyres we weren't necessarily going in the right direction."
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