Schumacher, Rosberg Gearing For Better Showing At Sepang Circuit

BY FARHANAH AZMI KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 (Bernama) -- The Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team is gearing for a better showing at the home ground Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit this weekend after a disappointing outing in Australia. "I am glad that the race is this weekend and I just want to straight away race here. Sepang is a new story overall and Melbourne (Australian Grand Prix) is another story," Nico Rosberg told Bernama in an exclusive interview at Galeri Petronas, here Wednesday. "I always look forward to the Malaysian Grand Prix. Sepang is one of my favourite tracks and it is the home race of our friends from Petronas. "I'm confident that we can improve our performance here, and we will have a successful weekend in front of all our Malaysian supporters," added Rosberg, who finished third at the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2010. Rosberg noted that after the Australian Grand Prix last Sunday, the team's engineers had been working hard on their machines. After the disappointment of how the first race in Melbourne turned out, Michael Schumacher hopes the car would be much better than their first race last weekend. "The biggest task for us here is perform because this is our home Grand Prix and we want to do well for our partners. After what had happened in Australia, we hope to do better," said Schumacher. He added that the car is fast and competitive for this season but the team still had to work on a few things to make it much better. "The car is capable of giving us good results and it gives me a good feeling for the season ahead. Sepang will be interesting for everybody because it will be the first clue to the real relative strengths of all the cars," said Schumacher. Earlier, both drivers and the team's reserve driver Sam Bird, spent almost an hour with 70 school children from selected schools in Kuala Lumpur at the Petrosains. They joined in interactive games and exhibits with the school children. -- BERNAMA