Nico Rosberg took victory at the Red Bull Ring twelve months ago in the first race at the circuit since 2003, and is looking for a repeat performance this year.
The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver has yet to finish off the podium in 2015, but was felt his race in Canada two weeks ago was compromised by his qualifying performance on the Saturday, although his race pace was strong.
He expects a number of teams to be close to Mercedes this weekend, including the Williams Martini Racing team that caused a shock in Austria last year by locking out the front row of the grid.
“Canada was really lost for me on the Saturday,” said Rosberg. “Not getting everything together in qualifying hurt my chances big time – but I had the pace and that’s a big positive to take forward and go maximum attack in Austria.
“My first race at this track last year couldn’t have been much better. Of course, we didn’t have the ideal start in qualifying – but we nailed it on Sunday and it was great to get the win.
“I’m sure we’ll have some tough competition here once again with Williams and probably some others too. But it’s a circuit I really enjoy driving and the crowds are unbelievable, so I’m looking forward to getting back out there and having a good battle.
“Of course, it’s a home race for Niki [Lauda] and Toto [Wolff], too, so we’ll need to be on our best form for this one!”
