Not Right To Say Mercedes Has Double The Advantage Compared To Last Season - Rosberg

SEPANG, March 27 (Bernama) -- Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One (F1) driver, Nico Rosberg feels it was not right to claim Mercedes had double the advantage this year compared to the beginning of the 2014 season. Rosberg said it would be unfair to say Mercedes has increased its 2014 advantage after seeing the race pace of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in the Australian Grand Prix, two weeks ago. "I don't think it's right to say Mercedes was even further in front this year than it was in 2014. Of course qualifying pace was very strong, yes, but more important is the race pace. "Especially from Kimi Raikkonen, we saw an extremely strong stint. It's not really fair to say that, I would say. Ferrari especially, have closed the gap and are closer than our nearest rival was last year," he told the media at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), here, Thursday. Rosberg said the team was keeping an eye on Ferrari after Kimi's middle stint at the season opener and it was too early to say the gap could be closer at the 2015 F1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix, this weekend. Team mate and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton led Rosberg home during a dominant one-two in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne; giving Mercedes a dominant victory. "Qualifying is definitely important in this internal battle, especially since we have the same car. But it is not everything because we have seen in the past that even in races by playing around with the tyre order and things like that, it is still possible to overtake. "This weekend there might be a bit more leeway in the strategy to launch an attack," he said. -- BERNAMA