Rosberg 'looking forward' to end of Mercedes dominance in F1

Nico Rosberg thinks Mercedes' utter dominance over Formula 1 in the V6 Hybrid may finally be over. The Silver Arrows have won every championship available since 2014, with only Rosberg's 2016 title success denying Lewis Hamilton from doing likewise in the drivers' championship.

Although Mercedes survived a raft of regulation changes in 2017, more have arrived for 2019, focuses on attempts to improve the on-track spectacle by making cars easier to follow and, in turn, boost overtaking.

Teams rarely retain dominance through changes in the rules, and Ferrari have significantly closed the gap to the Silver Arrows over the past two years – a gap Rosberg believes could disappear altogether this year.

"This year, everything resets to zero because of the rule changes," Rosberg told DPA news agency.

"Perhaps Mercedes will no longer be the dominant force. I'm really looking forward to seeing that."

Rosberg said Red Bull could play a bigger role now that the team has paired with Honda, but thinks the pressure is piling on the shoulders of Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel.

"Of course the pressure is very big," he said.

"They have now had two chances and last year in particular they didn't use them."

And putting extra pressure on Vettel is the arrival of his new young teammate, Charles Leclerc.

"I am sure we will have a lot of fun, because the boy is really on the gas," said Rosberg.

"He is on a different level to Kimi [Raikkonen], who was clearly number two. Leclerc goes straight to number one and it will to exciting to see how Sebastian deals with it."

Rosberg also thinks Valtteri Bottas has a chance to bounce back in 2019, after being comprehensively beaten by Hamilton last season, while going through the whole campaign without a win.

"If he has a good start and Lewis loses some of his motivation, which sometimes happens to him, a lot can change," Rosberg said.

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