Although heavily prompted by Sky’s Ted Kravitz, Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda proclaimed that Nico Rosberg ‘is back’ following his victory at the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver took only his second win in fourteen races in Barcelona, chalking up his first victory of the 2015 Formula One World Championship.
After playing second fiddle to team-mate Lewis Hamilton for so long, getting brushed aside as the Brit claimed 9 of the previous 11 race victories the German did his best to reign in Spain.
Rosberg topped both Free Practice One and Three, ahead of qualifying on pole, a key to victory in Barcelona.
A decent start, whilst Hamilton struggled away off the line meant that Rosberg could run a controlled race to take his ninth career victory and close the championship gap to Hamilton to 20 points.
But is it really enough of a sign to claim he is back? After all Ferrari claimed that they were back in Malaysia and they finished 45 seconds behind a cruising Rosberg in Spain.
‘A fantastic weekend. Everything worked out, Saturday and Sunday, and it came together today, To be first and second, especially after the two-week break when everyone brought upgrades, is great to see. a understandably buoyant Rosberg told the media after the race.
Mercedes will hope that they have gained the upper hand on Ferrari from the recent aerodynamic upgrades which both teams brought to the Grand Prix.
Despite a poor tyre strategy in regards to Sebastian Vettel not covering Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari never looked like having the race pace to compete with Mercedes in Spain.
If Mercedes are now clearly back on top, Rosberg will be hoping more than ever that he has now ended Hamilton’s period of domination and can take the fight to the double World Champion in Monaco.
Vital talking point – Spain – Nico is back
