Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

'We know where we are' in pecking order - Rosberg

Nico Rosberg says Mercedes already knows where it stands compared to its rivals this season following the first pre-season test.

Ferrari topped the times on three of the four days of pre-season testing, with Mercedes only running on the medium compound tyre as it focused on mileage throughout the first test. Now halfway through the pre-season testing schedule, Rosberg says Mercedes has already worked out where it stands and how the rest of the teams are shaping up.

"We’ve been paying attention of course," Rosberg said. "We have strategists and they have been doing the calculations already, so we more or less know where we are. Would you like to know? Well, sorry I can’t say!

"But we know where we are, but with a band for error because they are able to see full tanks, low tanks and after a while they get a picture of where everyone is. That’s quite fascinating to see that work and we do have a picture."

And Rosberg admits he is looking forward to driving the car when Mercedes runs less fuel and tries some of the softer tyre compounds.

"Of course I love to go really fast with low fuel, so I’m looking forward to that. Pounding round on mediums with lots of fuel is eventually not going to be so exciting at the end of it. We look forward to taking away some fuel."

The first pre-season test in numbers

TECHNICAL FEATURE: A closer look at the Mercedes W07

GALLERY: Pre-season testing

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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.