Nico Rosberg spent the majority of the race weekend in Australia playing second fiddle.
Throughout Friday and Saturday he was second best to team-mate Lewis Hamilton and for the majority of Sunday he was second best to Ferrari.
The German came into the season on a high due to his performances at the end of last season.
Rosberg enjoyed a string of consecutive pole positions and rounded off the season with three straight wins, a victorious sequence that Rosberg had never previously enjoyed in his career.
His natural high would have been frustrated somewhat when Hamilton then announced that he had not been fully committed to the final races of the season after he had wrapped up the championship.
Rosberg would have been keen to show Hamilton that he can beat him on merit, but was firmly knocked back over Friday and Saturday.
On to the race and Rosberg got past Hamilton on the start but lost out to both Ferrari’s with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen running first and second.
This was the case through the first stint on the red super-softs and following the first pit-stop, right until Fernando Alonso’s hellacious crash brought out a red flag.
With Mercedes sensing they could get to the end with no further pit-stops and the new tyre rules enabling teams to use three different compounds of Pirelli tyre they sent both Rosberg and Hamilton out on medium tyres.
Ferrari however sent Vettel and Raikkonen out on super-softs, virtually handing the victory to Rosberg as Vettel’s pace on the different tyre was not enough for him to control the race.
‘The strategy was crucial. Rosberg told formula1.com ‘I?m really thankful. The team did a great job on that side as well. We are really strong in strategy amongst other things. I don?t want to single out one thing, we?re strong in nearly all areas but that did it.
He continued: ‘I?m thankful. It was the tyre choice also on the red flag. I was glad to see that they [Ferrari] were on the supersoft. I wasn?t sure that was going to be the case. I was happy that I was able to follow quite well with the medium. I was a bit concerned about the restart with the medium, that that tyre would be too cold but it worked out OK.
So does Rosberg feel like he is now on an unbeatable run, having finished the 2015 season with three consecutive wins and beginning 2016 with another victory?
‘No, everything starts from zero, it?s a new season, new car. I feel that everything is starting from scratch, I?m just happy to get a good start in such a way into the season and that?s it.
Do not forget to enter our Vital Formula One Prediction Competition which will be running all season long.
Share this article
Related Articles
