Nico Rosberg says Ferrari and Mercedes are "very close" but insists his team is "ready for a battle" this season.

Mercedes comes in to 2016 as heavy favourites following two seasons of dominance in F1, but Ferrari closed the gap last year as Sebastian Vettel took three wins. While Mercedes has been in impressive form so far during testing, Rosberg insists the two teams are very closely matched at this stage.

“It’s close out there between the two teams I think," Rosberg said. "It’s difficult to know where [we are] exactly but they’ve done a great job so we need to really give everything because they are very close and a big threat. But of course we are confident and we are ready for a battle, for sure.”

Rosberg finally used the soft tyres for the first time on the opening day of the second test before handing over to team-mate Lewis Hamilton, and he says it was a fair hint at Mercedes' pace over one lap.

“It’s difficult to say for now, it’s very close between Ferrari and us I think, and maybe some other team might be there as well. Today we were doing qualifying practice this morning as it’s important to practice that as well, and that’s all the more enjoyable to take the car to the limit and really push.”

Follow live coverage and timing from pre-season testing here

Who is driving when during the second pre-season test

Second pre-season test preview

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.

Recent Posts

Las Vegas GP: Thursday's action in pictures

The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…

4 mins ago

Williams' headaches persist into Vegas practice

Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…

1 hour ago

Ferrari's Sainz 'not satisfied with where we are' in Vegas

It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…

2 hours ago

Norris labels McLaren long-run pace ‘shocking’ in chilly Vegas

Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…

4 hours ago

Hamilton delighted with ‘consistently strong day’ in Vegas

Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…

5 hours ago

Verstappen stuck with 'draggy' rear wing for Vegas

Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…

6 hours ago