SPIELBERG, Austria -- Nico Rosberg was not expecting Mercedes to hold such a big advantage over its rivals during Friday practice at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Rosberg was fastest in both sessions and, other than teammate Lewis Hamilton, none of his rivals were able to get within 0.6s of his best lap. Rosberg's time in first practice was the fastest time ever recorded by an F1 car at the circuit -- beating Michael Schumacher's record from 2003 by over 0.5s -- but he expected his rivals to find similar improvements.
"It is a pleasure to drive on this track since they made the new asphalt and the new kerbs, there is a lot of grip out there so we are really going fast," he said. "We broke the lap record today and we were much faster than last year I think, so it is a great feeling. It is smooth out there too, it used to be really bumpy. Apart from that, on one lap we seem quick, surprisingly quick maybe, we thought others would be close and it didn't seem like it, but early days.
"Then for the long run it was difficult with the rain, we couldn't really practice the long runs for the race so we might have to do it tomorrow morning. We are starting the race with the ultra-softs and they seem way too soft for this track. On one lap they are great but after that they disintegrate very quickly so that will be a huge challenge in the race if they fall apart quickly, it could mix things up."
Rosberg had the edge over Hamilton in both practice sessions, but he expects his teammate to be in better form in qualifying.
"It was a decent start to the weekend but Lewis didn't get his laps together so he didn't show what he could do. I am aware he is going to be fast and it will be difficult to beat him."