Mercedes GP will show its potential in Bahrain: Nico Rosberg
Mercedes GP driver Nico Rosberg is adamant that the real potential of the team will be displayed at the first race of the 2011 season in Bahrain, which starts on 13 March.
After having a dull 2010 season, Mercedes are expected to bounce back in the new season. However, their car has been hit by several reliability issues and lack of pace during the initial testing.
These issues have not bothered Rosberg at all and the young German claimed that his team is not looking for pace in pre-season testing.
Rosberg said, “One thing that should be made very clear is that this car that we've been running so far is not our Bahrain car. This car is here to improve reliability and do the maximum mileage possible. A big step will be introduced later in the test season.”
The young German has not had the best of times during the testing until now. He was unable to complete his maximum number of laps at Valencia and the same happened to him at Jerez.
On the other hand, his teammate Michael Schumacher has been the better of the two. The seven-time Formula 1 champion was criticised for his lack of pace during the Valencia testing, but he responded to his critics in style at Jerez.
Schumacher set the quickest lap time on day two of the testing at Jerez and finished as the third fastest overall in the four-day testing. He proved his worth to everyone and warned his opponents of being a title contender in the 2011 season.
One day before Schumacher set the fastest time at Jerez, McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claimed that the seven-time champion will not be the same as he was in the past and his performance in 2011 will be the same as in the previous year.
This seemed to have triggered Schumacher and his pace at Jerez, which was quicker than both McLaren drivers, was an ideal response to silence Hamilton.
However, Schumacher admitted that the pace of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull on the longer runs was better than Mercedes and his team may not be fighting for podiums in the first couple of races.
However, a positive show by Schumacher has brought smiles in the Mercedes garage and the team claimed to be headed in the right direction.
Although it is too early to predict anything for the upcoming season, Mercedes have vowed to upgrade their car completely for the season-opener race at Bahrain and that may spring a surprise for all the top-running teams.
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