German driver's contract expires at the end of the 2016 season
Sunday 21 February 2016 13:45, UK
Nico Rosberg is convinced he will still be at Mercedes "for many years", as he prepares for the final season of his current contract.
Rosberg's future with F1's world champions is likely to prove one of the main off-track talking points of the 2016 season with the contract extension he signed two years ago expiring in December.
The 30-year-old joined Mercedes when they bought the Brawn team in 2010 and over the last three seasons has been partnered by Lewis Hamilton, whose deal runs until 2018.
But although Rosberg has enjoyed periods where he has held the upper hand, Hamilton has finished ahead in the championship in all three years - beating the German to the world title in 2014 and 2015.
However, despite suggestions that either the team or Rosberg himself could look to make a change at the end of the year if the intra-team balance of power does not change, the German isn't anticipating a move anytime soon.
"I'm sure there is going to be many more years to go here at Mercedes," he told Sky Sports News HQ.
"I feel comfortable here, I really enjoy being part of the team, we've achieved so much, and there's even more to achieve in the future."
Despite the success of the Hamilton-Rosberg partnership since Mercedes' arrival as F1's dominant force - they have won 80 per cent of the races and back-to-back championship doubles - team boss Toto Wolff admitted in November the team's "biggest weakness is the dynamic of the relationship between the drivers".
Wolff went further by warning that the team could break up the pairing if relations deteriorated to the point where the wider harmony inside the Brackley outfit was damaged.
Hamilton and Rosberg were both present at Silverstone last Friday for the shakedown of Mercedes' new W07 car and the German acknowledged that this was the time of year when they particularly had to work towards the same goal.
"At the moment we're working together because it's in our interests that the car's as good as possible to make sure there is no other opposition and it's just between the two of us," he said.
Although Hamilton comfortably won last year's drivers' title, Rosberg ended the campaign in some of best form of his career with a run of six poles and three wins in a row.
And despite his team-mate's run of title victories, Rosberg insisted: "I look forward to going up against Lewis again. He's been driving at an extremely high level and that's the sort of battle I relish - that's why I do sport for and compete for."
The first Barcelona test starts on Monday February 22 and the Sky Sports F1 Digital team will be providing live commentary from dawn until dusk on all four days of both Barcelona tests while Sky Sports News HQ will also deliver live updates from trackside.
