Mercedes-Benz EQ aiming to end rookie season on a high

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Mercedes-Benz EQ aiming to end rookie season on a high

Team Principal Ian James: "The passion shown by the whole team while preparing for the days ahead and how they adapted to these special circumstances make me proud and confident. Every individual team member is aware of how big the challenge will be."

Mercedes-Benz EQ aiming to end rookie season on a high

Mercedes-Benz EQ finds itself nicely played ahead of the nine-day six-race Berlin finale to come.

The team, a rookie for 2019/20, has podiums under its belt after a storming opening weekend in Saudi Arabia and drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries are targeting further progress from solid foundations at Tempelhof.

Strong starting point

"I'm really looking forward to racing again," said Vandoorne. "I almost can't remember the last time out. It's definitely been a good while and feels a bit weird that we can finally go racing again.

"It's crazy to think that we'll have completed six races in just less than two weeks and everything in the championship will be decided. It's going to be a super intense time, but there's everything left still to play for.

"I feel optimistic about the finale, because we've been able to reset as a team and improve one or two details. Thanks to these bits of progress, I can feel confident about the upcoming races.

"We achieved good results in Berlin last year. We qualified second and ended the race in fifth, which gives us a good basis on which to build.

"Along with the progress made this year, we should hopefully be well placed to fight up front, but let's wait and see!

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"We have a week packed with emotion ahead of us, some positive and some maybe not quite as positive, but it will be the same for everyone, and we will all have to deal with these different scenarios.

"We'll see very soon how things work out." 

"We as a team are well prepared for it, but then probably, no one really can be hundred percent, as we will be facing many challenges and everyone will experience some ups and downs during these nine days," added team-mate de Vries.

"That is why it is important to stay calm and take everything one step at a time. Then, hopefully, we can score a decent haul of points and end the season with a good outcome." 

Pride and passion

Mercedes-Benz EQ's Team Principal, Ian James, is keen to highlight the herculean efforts of his outfit during lockdown.

"The whole team has been looking forward to this week," he said. "The end to our rookie season could hardly be more intense. We have spent the past few weeks working hard on all of the areas where we noticed that we were behind earlier this year. It's just part of the learning curve.

"The passion shown by the whole team while preparing for the days ahead and how they adapted to these special circumstances make me proud and confident. Every individual team member is aware of how big the challenge will be."

"We still have more than half the season ahead of us. Everything is possible for all of the teams, especially as preparation time for the three track variants has been quite short.

"Managing the tyres will be a crucial factor in every race in Berlin. The surface at Tempelhof will put huge demands on tyres. But as far as we're concerned, we will try to use the opportunity to add some highlights."