Nico Rosberg following Friday practice was cautiously optimistic about his chances of beating his team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the Italian Grand Prix, and has assigned himself some homework to help him do it.
The German ended up in second place behind Hamilton in both practice sessions albeit his best lap was just 0.021 seconds shy of the Briton’s in the second session.
“It’s not gone my way up to now, and tomorrow is another shot and it’s very close today,” Rosberg said after.
“Lewis has been pretty quick up to now but it got very close at the end there as we were trying a qualifying run. It’s OK, going in the right direction.”
Rosberg also admitted to surprise at the time gap between the Mercedes and the rest. “We are surprised, we’re looking very quick here at the moment, so I’m very pleased with that.”
In terms of the battle within Mercedes, time lost by Rosberg to his team mate in the final sector of the track appeared crucial to him ending up behind in the second session. “I lost it in the last two corners…Lewis just seems to be quicker there at the moment,” Rosberg admitted.
And with this he has assigned himself some homework in order to help him get on top.
“I definitely will need to work on those [two corners] tonight, look at his onboard to see where he’s turning in, how much kerb here’s taking and try to find out what he’s doing differently and try to do the same tomorrow.
“You go through the onboard cameras from all the other drivers, especially those drivers who I think are doing a good job there and try to understand what they’re doing better than me. And I also have the data to look at…and of course also understanding what I’m doing better than the others [is important]
“There’s a lot of work to do and it’s a very particular track here.”
