Mercedes' German race driver hails his new car after winning Sunday's Formula One season-opening Australian Grand Prix; talks about room for improvement due to reliability concerns
Nico Rosberg celebrates with his trophy atop the podium. Pics/afp
Melbourne: Nico Rosberg raved about his "unbelievably quick" Mercedes on Sunday after dominating the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with a start-to-finish win.
Nico Rosberg celebrates with his trophy atop the podium. Pics/afp
Champ Keke's son
The German, whose father, Keke, won the 1982 world championship, powered away from third on the grid to give Mercedes the opening race of the new season by almost 25 seconds.
Rosberg's fourth win, and his first since Silverstone last year, came as his teammate Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, pulled out after just a few laps with cylinder trouble.
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"That was an incredible day for us. To start the season with a win is unbelievable and I have to say a big thank you to everybody who was involved in building our car over the winter," Rosberg said.
"I always dreamed of having such a strong Silver Arrow and now it seems we are there. "In the race, everything went perfectly for me. My start was great and I was able to push from there until the end, with our fuel consumption well under control.
Mercedes' Nico Rosberg negotiates a corner during Sunday's Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne
"I was in an unbelievably quick car today and it's such a pleasure to drive, it's such a great feeling and I really look forward to the next races so much."
After a strong pre-season, Rosberg's win proves Mercedes have adapted best to widespread rules changes including a new engine incorporating hybrid technology.
Room for improvement
However, Rosberg said Hamilton's plight showed reliability was still a concern, and that Mercedes will use the two weeks until the second race in Malaysia to sort out lingering problems.
"Despite our success, we know that there is still work to do. We saw over the weekend that reliability is still a concern and it prevented us from a strong two-car finish. We have two weeks to improve. I am looking forward to Malaysia. I'd love to race again tomorrow."
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