Must keep improving after “perfect start” – Rosberg

2014 Australian Grand Prix

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Nico Rosberg said Mercedes made a “perfect start to the season” but must keep improving their car to keep their rivals behind.

“It’s been really an amazing day,” said Rosberg after winning the Australian Grand Prix by over 24 seconds. “I’m just over the moon really it’s incredible.”

“Everybody’s worked so hard over the winter and now to have such an amazing Silver Arrow to drive, it’s just unreal. Unbelievably quick today, the reliability was good also, it’s just the perfect start to the season. I’m really thankful to Mercedes, they’ve done an incredible job over the winter.”

Rosberg said the next step for the team was to “definitely evaluate everything that we’ve learned now from this weekend because for sure there’s some way to go – we still can improve a lot.”

“And we must, because the competitors aren’t going to be asleep, definitely, they’re gong to try and catch up quickly.

“Learn as much, improve the car – go on holiday a bit next week – and then get ready for Malaysia.”

2014 Australian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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26 comments on “Must keep improving after “perfect start” – Rosberg”

  1. I knew they would be strong, but Nico’s performance was beyond what I anticipated. With the resources they have in terms if personnel, I would be very surprised if any other team make any serious challenge.

    1. It’s to soon to predict nobody will catch them. Their PU/chassis integration looks better than the rest but Bottas impressed, McLaren was good and Red Bull is a good car. I’m expecting others getting closer even before Spain.

      1. What about Ferrari ?, it’s same as 2013, 2012, 2011. No progress

    2. Nicos performance? What getting out qualified and then cruising around to victory in a car 2 seconds faster per lap than its nearest rival?

      Yeah what a hero.

    3. I felt for Lewis today. He’s had more than his fair share of races, both in a Mclaren and at Mercedes where he was out front looking strong for a victory only to have his equipment fail him. I guess the good news is he knows the car is very capable and he should be in for a fighting chance at a win in just about every grand prix, but he’s got to be extremely frustrated with a possible 25 points thrown away from the get go.

  2. 3 “number 2” drivers on the podium :).

    1. Hahahaha

    2. I’m beginning to think that Magnussen is the n°1 driver at McLaren

      1. Rosberg has a chance to become the No. 1 driver at Mercedes as well though @tifoso1989

        1. What because hamilton retired at the start of the race due to an engine failure? hardly fair, esp after he out qualified rosberg.

        2. Rosberg will only be number one at Mercedes if Lewis gets injured or continues to have car troubles. Lewis is a better qualifier and a better racer.

  3. They are one second faster than everybody but I’m confident that others will catch up. I’m happy it will not be another borefest like in 2009.

    1. 2009 wasn’t even that bad, plus Nico and Lewis are on the same team to spice things up.

  4. it’s just the perfect start to the season

    Definitely a perfect start of the season when you win and you’re strongest rival out in the first part of the race

  5. Scary he did the fastest lap on lap 19 while most did pb’s on low fuel. Ok he was on softs at the time however I think he plenty more up his sleeve.

  6. Maybe it is a perfect start for you but not for the Mercedes team as a whole. The other car did not finish. This is why I struggle to warm up to Nico even though he seems to be a good driver. I mean, he never cares about what happens in the other garage. It was the same when Micael suffered problem after problem while he was scoring points. He always said that they performed well when he scored wins, points, etc and never bothered to worry about his team mate.

    1. Mercedes may yet be their own enemy this season despite having a very fast car. The fact RBR finished in second place after suffering a disastrous pre – season test, shows they will soon be challenging for the lead. And while Mercedes can almost guarantee reliability for a car, they can’t rule out the odd accident taking out one car.
      So they ought to maximise their points haul this early in the season if they are to win the constructors.

      1. 24s behind after an SC does not equal “soon be challenging for the lead.” (Even with illegally high fuel consumption.) The start was not “perfect” as they only brought home one car and don’t lead the WCC. But unless the other teams find 1s or more, the early season is Mercedes’ for the taking.

    2. Hahaha! And of course Michael was always very worried about his teammates in the past!

  7. Nico Rosberg said Mercedes made a “perfect start to the season”

    His comments sounds to me he is not a great team player or he is just one stupid guy who doesn’t know the meaning of perfection. Mercedes did not made perfect start to the season; because one car fail to finish the race.

  8. I’d love to see Rosberg win a race on merit against Hamilton as this hasn’t happened yet. Monaco – pit stop error cost Hamilton. Silverstone – Hamiltons tyre blow out and now Australia – Hamilton retires after starting the race with 5 cylinders. What is it with German drivers and their teammates atrocious bad luck!

    1. Yeah it must feel odd to have half your race victories gifted to you by reliability errors on the car of your teammate who was on track to beat you comfortably.

  9. After a Finn-German-Finn-German champions, will we see a
    FinnGerman champion? Just too much..

  10. Perfect start? Hahahahaha.
    People thinking that Alonso/Raikkonen would be a fight.
    The fight is going to be in another team…

  11. Nico Rosberg said Mercedes made a “perfect start to the season”

    I would argue that Nico made a perfect start to the season, Mercedes would have probably only classed it as perfect if they had gained 43 points and a 1-2 finish ;)

    A shame for Lewis that he had to retire so early, maybe the team should have removed him before the race start, not sure how a non-firing cylinder would correct itself (but I am no mechanic). But, there is a long way to go still so it’s not all doom-and-gloom for LH. A 25 point difference can easily disappear with some bad luck or poor reliability (see Alonso’s lead before Belgium in 2012). Nico may have the early advantage but I think he may be looking over his shoulder a little in the next few races.

    Having said that, if either of them want to win the title, they need to dominate the other in these early races before the rest of the grid catch them up. Any loss of points to the other plays in to rival hands.

  12. “the reliability was good also”

    Someone forgot to look at the other car it seems.

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