Nico Rosberg recorded the fifth fastest time of the seven runners on the second day of the first Formula One group test at Valencia.
Tuesday saw the German spend all day in the car in a program that concentrated on long runs and saw him complete 119 laps, a tally second only to Felipe Massa. The Brazilian, who recorded the best lap time of the day, was a little over second faster that the Mercedes GP driver's marker of 1m12.899.
Rosberg was upbeat about the car, simply describing the balance of the car as good with the heavier fuel loads drivers will need to cope with this season adding, “it felt like the same car, just a little bit slower.”
However, he also revealed a problem.
“We've still got some work to do on my position in the car,” he explained. “As I dropped down by 1.5cm during the day which explains why the visibility got a little difficult towards the end but that's something we can fix before the next test.”
He also said he was “very comfortable” at the team in a week which has inevitably seen media focus on Michael Schumacher returning to F1 as his teammate and veteran Rubens Barrichello urge Rosberg to leave Mercedes to escape being dominated by the 41-year-old.
Tomorrow will see Schumacher complete a full day in the car as the first F1 test of 2010 comes to an end.
