Nico Rosberg says his dominant victory at the Spanish Grand Prix is proof Mercedes is winning the development battle against main rivals Ferrari this year.
Rosberg took his first victory of the season in Spain, which is crucial in his battle against Lewis Hamilton, but also showed the gap to Ferrari on an aero-dependant circuit. Rosberg finished over 45 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel in third, and by the time Hamilton had switched onto a three-stop strategy he easily got the upper hand on the Ferrari to finish nearly 30 seconds clear ahead of Vettel.
The victory was made all the more sweet for Rosberg by the amount of changes Ferrari had made to its car this weekend that appear not to have had the desired effect.
"[Our advantage was] much more than we have seen in recent races," Rosberg said. "It was much more than Bahrain, much more than Shanghai and much more than Malaysia. It's really a big step in the right direction for us, but it shows that we have an awesome team at the moment and everybody is doing a fantastic job. In the development race we won this weekend compared to Ferrari, so that's an important indication for the rest of the season."
It was also Rosberg's first victory over team-mate Hamilton this year, closing the gap to 20 points in the drivers' championship.
"Yeah, it's seven points [gained on Hamilton]. At one point I thought maybe Sebastian could keep Lewis behind, which would not be good for the team but in terms of my points it would be better - of course that's always a compromise.
"That's the way it is but seven points is better than nothing and a fantastic team result today to be first and second. After the two and half week break everybody brought upgrades and still we are dominating in such a way, which is fantastic to see."