Rosberg has made best start to campaign since 2004; Says Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari have had messy starts; "I'm not sounding any notes of caution - I'm just realistic."
Thursday 28 April 2016 17:02, UK
Nico Rosberg says he is remaining realistic despite his hat-trick of victories and expects his rivals, in particular Lewis Hamilton, to respond.
The German has already opened up a 36-point lead in the Drivers' Championship to his Mercedes team-mate, who has suffered with reliability issues and disappointing getaways so far in 2016.
Rosberg has made the best start to a Formula 1 campaign since Michael Schumacher in 2004 and is only the fourth driver in the sport's history to win six consecutive races, but says he has been helped by his competition's misfortune.
Having fallen away in the championship battle and watched Hamilton triumph in both 2014 and 2015 he was asked whether this was the "best-ever Nico" but only replied that he was the "most experienced Nico". He then added:
"I'm pleased with the way I've been driving in the first three races but for me it's not six in a row, the three last year doesn't count for anything to this year's championship.
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"I've been driving really well but my opposition had a really messy start, that's the reality of it. I expect my competition to bounce back, especially Lewis. There's still a massively long way to go."
Hamilton hasn't been the only struggling in 2016, with both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen having their own consistency and reliability problems.
Rosberg, who is hoping to emulate his father Keke in winning a title, believes Ferrari have much more in the tank and stressed that there were still 18 grands prix left in the season, starting with this weekend's Russian GP.
"I'm not sounding any notes of caution - I'm just realistic," he said.
"Ferrari, among others, haven't really shown what they can do yet. They've taken each other in the last race at the first corner, for example. From then it was very messy.
"A lot of things are going wrong and we think they're a lot quicker than they've shown. We think they are very close to us."
Watch the whole Russian GP weekend - LIVE ONLY on Sky Sports F1. The race begins at 1pm on Sunday, with build-up from 11.30am. Or watch the race without a contract for £6.99 on NOW TV.
