Mercedes' 'real innovation' excites Rosberg

Nico Rosberg says Mercedes has "a real innovation" as part of its upgrades introduced on Tuesday which has left him "very excited".

Toto Wolff hinted there would be some "unusual" upgrades brought to the W07 as the first test progressed, with the first of those being seen on Tuesday in Barcelona. A radical bargeboard and floor design was added and Rosberg says he has been impressed by Mercedes' forward thinking.

"We have a real innovation on the floor which looks quick futuristic and I am very excited about that," Rosberg said. "It is important for us to be innovative and be one step ahead of the others because it is easy to copy. When they see the things on our car they will take them and automatically go faster so we have to try and be one step ahead."

Mercedes has started pre-season testing in ominous form, with Lewis Hamilton completing 156 laps on the opening day and Rosberg following up with 172 laps on day two. After such impressive mileage, Rosberg was left unsurprisingly buoyant at the position Mercedes finds itself in.

"It was a great day. I was excited to get in the car again and go flat out. It was a real Formula 1 marathon today, lots and lots of laps and kilometres because we need to do that to push the car to its limits and find little problems with the car.

"At some point something will break but for now nothing is broken so we need to keep on going with laps and see where the weak points are. Lap time is not realistic to where we are so far and we haven’t shown our cards yet as we are still holding back. For sure the car is quick and the opposition seems to be quick. How quick we are nobody knows for now but of course we are confident.

"We also did a race practice this afternoon, similar to a race but not the same, and trying to improve everything as much as possible."