Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Rosberg: Mercedes is not panicking

Nico Rosberg says Mercedes is not panicking despite being unable to show it is the team to beat at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Mercedes struggled in Singapore and was comfortably beaten by both Ferrari and Red Bull, but is confident it has learned from those problems ahead of the race at Suzuka. However, with Friday practice taking place in wet conditions, Mercedes was beaten by Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat on both occasions.

While Rosberg admits dry running would have helped show Mercedes' true pace, he says the team is confident it will be quick throughout the weekend.

"I guess yes it would have been important, but then again we are confident because it’s the same car that has won all those races prior to Singapore and we haven’t changed anything," Rosberg said. "We still think we are looking good and we are going to be quick and we are not panicking or anything.

"It will be a challenge for everyone tomorrow because it’s just one hour to prepare in the dry for everything - let’s see if it’s dry because we don’t even know that – and that’s to prepare for everything in qualifying and the race, so it will be intense."

Rosberg - who ran his upgraded engine which he'd had to replace in Monza throughout the day - says Kvyat's pace was genuinely quicker than Mercedes in Friday's conditions.

When it was suggested observers cannot read too much in to Friday's times, Rosberg replied: "Yes, we can.

"[Kvyat] was quick and the times are pretty much representative ... At the moment [Red Bull is close], but the wet is a different world of course."

REPORT: Kvyat edges Rosberg in wet FP2 at Suzuka

AS IT HAPPENED: Japanese Grand Prix FP2

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.