Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg not worried about lap times during Jerez testing
Nico Rosberg and his team Mercedes GP are not worried by the lack of speed, which has been witnessed in the first two pre-season testing sessions at Valencia and Jerez.
Mercedes expected to have a strong season in 2010, but the German manufacturers failed to live up to the expectations of their fans. The team faced a lot of criticism following the signing of seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher.
However, the team had a three year contract with the legendary German and Schumacher will be a part of the team until the end of 2012.
Mercedes admitted last year that the team wasn’t able to provide a strong car to their drivers Rosberg and Schumacher. The best finish for the team was third, courtesy some other events rather than the speed of their car.
The German giants vowed to bounce back in 2011 with a strong car but the team hasn’t looked like one of the best until now.
Rosberg, who featured in the first day of testing at Jerez claimed that his team will be bringing a big update in the first race of the season, which starts at Bahrain on the 13th of February.
The young German said that it would be wrong to predict the performance of Mercedes from the pre-season testing. He further stated that the team predicted their lack of speed during the testing sessions.
The current car that Mercedes is using for testing will not be the same, when the team comes out racing at Bahrain. Rosberg said that Mercedes was emphasizing on putting as many miles on the car as possible.
Mercedes has been trying to test out the new features in the car like the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), rear wing and the performance of Pirelli tyres.
Rosberg also admitted that he had some problems with the car yesterday. He stated, “Unfortunately there were a few small problems that put us back. The rear wing wasn't working properly, a small gearbox issue stopped me at the end and a sensor issue stopped
me before that.”
However, Rosberg was confident that these petty issues will not halt the progress of his team and he was happy to find out all these problems during the testing sessions. He claimed that the team had understood the issues well and they would not hinder the
team’s progress during the 2011 season.
There is still a question mark on Mercedes' performance but their potential cannot be doubted at all. They have the resources to develop a race winning car plus the drivers to achieve glory for them.
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