Rosberg admitted that he could not wait to vie with Hamilton for supremacy at
Mercedes, rekindling an intense rivalry that began in karting 13 years ago.
“The memories have all come flooding back from when we were together before,”
said the 27-year-old, whose fastest time of 1min 0.130sec was threatened
only by Ferrari‘s
Fernando Alonso.
“That’s what I am here for. Lewis is one of the best drivers in the pitlane
but I think we can work well together and push the team forward. That’s
important.”
Sebastian
Vettel, the defending triple world champion, was more than two
seconds off Rosberg’s mark in his Red
Bull, but refused to sound any note of panic ahead of the opening
race in Melbourne.
“We didn’t manage to tick all the boxes that we would like to,” he said. “So
it is tough to pinpoint where we are. I don’t think we have had a winter
test that has been less conclusive than this one.”