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Rosberg Vs Schumacher Battle to Be Fierce in 2011

With one season at Mercedes GP behind him, Nico Rosberg looks at the 2011 Formula 1 season more optimistic. And despite the fact that his latest comments on the W02 challenger have not been very positive, his expectations for the new campaign have not changed: improve on his previous campaign and beat teammate Michael Schumacher.

On this second chapter, Rosberg admitted that he expects a much fiercer inter-team battle between him and Schumacher, which he of course hopes to top once again.

From a personal angle I have to say it was a good season,” said Rosberg about his first campaign with Mercedes last season, which saw him improve to 7th overall in the drivers' classification, after having scored almost double the points of 7-time world champion Schumacher.

I was able to beat Michael and delivered the best possible results with the car I was given. For my career that meant a pretty good leap forward and in the end that is all that matters,” he added in an interview with Formula 1's official website.

I don't think that I bruised the Schumacher myth. He is a seven-time World Champion and that will always remain in the history books. But sure it felt good to beat him, as he is not viewed as one of the best F1 drivers ever for nothing!

Talking realistically about his chances for the championship in 2011, Rosberg hinted that Mercedes still have some catch-up work to do before thinking of challenging for the title. Having experienced several reliability issues lately – which have affected his track time at the wheel of the W02 – Rosberg puts all his faith in his team to make all things work for the better.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to do as many laps as I would have liked, but overall I see a development for the better and to get better every single lap counts.”

One thing that should be made very clear is that this car that we've been running so far is not our Bahrain car. This car is here to improve reliability and do the maximum mileage possible. A big step will be introduced later in the test season,” he concluded.
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