Mercedes must turn around 1s deficit - Rosberg

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Nico Rosberg says Mercedes needs to turn around a one-second deficit compared to 2015 to win the Singapore Grand Prix.

While it was dominant at the majority of circuits, Mercedes was surprisingly uncompetitive in Singapore last year as Sebastian Vettel took pole position and won ahead of Daniel Ricciardo.

Asked if he is confident Mercedes will not have a repeat performance this year, Rosberg replied: "Not at all, because there were reasons we were off the pace.

"We understand some of them, we made some major changes so we hope to be looking a lot better but is it enough to turn around a one-second deficit we had last year? It’s not an easy one.

"It is a cool track which I feel comfortable on but this weekend is going to be a special challenge for us because we have to get everything 100 per cent right to be able to challenge Ferrari and Red Bull. Steep weekend in front of us."

With team-mate Lewis Hamilton admitting he is concerned a number of poor starts could end up costing him the title, Rosberg says it is an area of focus for him to ensure he retains the upper hand.

"Of course I am aware of the fact that starts are an ongoing challenge and it will not become easier now for us. So definitely it needs attention on my part, but I have been feeling good lately, been having some good starts, so feeling good about it.

"But I have also had my difficulties – I lost the Hockenheim Grand Prix and the Hungarian Grand Prix for not optimal starts. So it is a good challenge."

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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.