Anything you can do, Lewis... Rosberg smashes lap record in blistering Mercedes

PUBLISHED: 12:24 EST, 3 March 2013 | UPDATED: 13:20 EST, 3 March 2013

Nico Rosberg responded in impressive fashion to the challenge laid down by Lewis Hamilton by trouncing his new Mercedes team-mate’s time in the final pre-season testing session prior to the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Rosberg shaved nearly half a second off Hamilton’s time set on Saturday at the Circuit de Catalunya, an effort which was already faster than last season’s pole and even the lap record around the Spanish track.

Rosberg’s performance, the fastest of the week, only added to the growing belief that both he and Hamilton can challenge for the world title this year rather than use the coming campaign as a stop gap for 2014 when radical new regulations come into force.

Speedster: Nico Rosberg even beat the time set by Lewis Hamilton yesterday in Barcelona

Competitive: Mercedes have now looked very impressive ahead of the season opener in Australia

Despite sharing Hamilton’s caution regarding the forthcoming campaign which kicks into gear in less than two weeks, Rosberg certainly has no complaints about how winter testing has gone for Mercedes.

Serious: Rosberg is unfazed by his new team-mate Hamilton

Serious: Rosberg is unfazed by team-mate Hamilton

‘We’ve made progress and I’m pleased with the way the winter has gone,’ he said. ‘Everything has gone to plan and the reliability has been sorted.

‘I can see in the factory that everything is working better. Everything has come together well up to now in testing. All the last minute things that had to be done, everything worked out.

‘We had a very difficult time last year especially with a lot of drop off towards the end of the season.

‘We are in a much better position now as a team and communication and structure is much better.’

Discussing the prospect of battling it out for supremacy in the Mercedes garage with Hamilton, Rosberg admitted his mind has been cast back to their days as team-mates in karting.

He added: ‘The memories have all come flooding back from when we were together before.

‘It’s such a long time ago now – it is like 13 years ago – but the memories come back and it feels like being back then.

‘It will be a great challenge for sure. That’s what I am here for. He is one of the best drivers in the pit lane but I think we can work well together and push the team forward. That’s important.’

Trailing: Sebastian Vettel struggled to keep up with the pace of the two Mercedes cars in Barcelona

Rosberg and Hamilton will certainly have to be team players as despite their pace, the feeling in the paddock is that Red Bull and McLaren have yet to show their true hand.

Admitting that the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Lotus could be in for a nasty surprise in Melbourne, Rosberg said: ‘We have to be careful with the pace because I know for a fact some of the other teams have not shown anything near to what they can do.

‘We had a decent winter last year, I think we also finished at the top of the time sheets as well. But we have to be careful because the conditions will be different in Melbourne. One of our big weaknesses last year was tyre degradation and we have tried to sort that.’

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OBE Other Bugg*rs Effort?

- Belltoller , Tampa, 04/3/2013 05:22

Click to rate Rating 2

Trouncing? DM makes it seem like Lewis was competing against Nico. Lewis had no challenger like Nico did in Alonso, Lewis was fueled for more laps than Nico, and also made his sufficient to stay on top laptime on a recently wet track. Get it right DM. BTW, Reuben Barrichello holds the track record at 1:19+. Jeeez!

- Justchaz , Tul, United States, 04/3/2013 05:17

Click to rate Rating 4

theses honours are EARNED! - Toto, Sheffield, 4/3/2013 1:37 little man, Hamilton does have an OBE!

- jide , london, 04/3/2013 04:18

Click to rate Rating 5

I prefer to wait until the first race before making comparisons between the relative performance of the cars, in testing you just don't know what the fuel load in the car is. - Carsten176, Bradford, United Kingdom, 3/3/2013 16:18

Exactly. Mercedes was running short runs of 5-6 laps with very little fuel in the car. RBR was running 15-20 lap runs starting with a full tank. Trying to draw conclusions based on the lap times is near impossible under these conditions.

- Completely Average , Somewhere, United States, 04/3/2013 01:59

Click to rate Rating 7

Well Mr Saymyname, you are allowed to comment but. No one else!!! This is a free country!!!!!! Did you not notice that when you entered it! LH is overblown hype and that is proved by his results of the past 5 years and yes no OBE for the little whinged, theses honours are EARNED!

- Toto , Sheffield, 04/3/2013 01:37

Click to rate Rating 16

Here is how it works, if you go on a 1 lap run like Nico did, you go faster than say Lewis, who was fueled for 5 laps. Do you understand? If you have more fuel in your car you go slower than someone with less fuel. So to suggest that somehow Nico showed up Lewis is a bit disingenuous, especially considering that Leis set his time on a green track after all the rain whilst Nico and Fernando set theirs on a nicely rubbered in track!

- Tazz600 , london, United Kingdom, 04/3/2013 01:33

Click to rate Rating 6

Wow 50 red arrows already! Proves me right. Nighty night Fanboyzs!! You make me smile so wide!!!!!!!

- Toto , Sheffield, 04/3/2013 01:26

Click to rate Rating 6

- Toto , Sheffield, 03/3/2013 22:36 your comments are well noted. please leave LH alone. focus on your 2012 driver of the year and OBE. you don't have to be a fan. live your own life. no LH fan out there cares one iota what people like you think.

- saymyname , London, United Kingdom, 03/3/2013 23:47

Click to rate Rating 37

Wikipedia says the lap record for Barcelona is held by Barichello in the Brawn.

- Dangerous_Dave , Sheffield, United Kingdom, 03/3/2013 22:41

Click to rate Rating 18

The levels of paranoia displayed by Hammy's Fanboyz is getting to staggering proportions. He might be clocking some fast laps but the winner of the GP is the first past the post, not the pole sitter or the fastest lap! The first past the post wins, simple! He's not done much of that since his one and only (flash in the pan) WDC somewhere in the dark, dim and distant past. get over yourselves, not to do with race,colour or creed, it's all about consistency and WINNING, init!

- Toto , Sheffield, 03/3/2013 22:36

Click to rate Rating 65

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