Rosberg delighted by trouble-free day for Mercedes - MotorSportsTalk

He may not have finished at the top of the timesheets, but Nico Rosberg undoubtedly put in the performance of the day in the first pre-season test at Jerez by completing more than twice as many laps as any other driver.

Rosberg’s time of 1:23.106 was only good enough for third in the final classifications, four-tenths of a second behind pace-setter Sebastian Vettel. However, with 157 laps under his belt, the German driver proved that the bid to improve the reliability of the Mercedes car has got off to a good start.

“That was a great start to the winter testing,” Rosberg said. “In the beginning it’s all about reliability and we managed to do a lot of mileage today. The guys in the factories built a complete new car and now we come here and it’s working great, so the team did a fantastic job over the winter.

“I was able to do some good long runs on the first day and that’s really amazing. We have such a great team and this is what makes me really happy. As a driver, you always want to find out how quick you are compared to the others – but that will have to wait until qualifying in Melbourne.

“The next testing days are all about making sure we know the car inside out and we’ve made a good start with that today.”

Rosberg was on hand to help unveil the new Mercedes W06 Hybrid in Jerez on Sunday morning, and spoke about how he is using the heartache of his title defeat to teammate Lewis Hamilton in 2014 as motivation for the new year.

Hamilton will get behind the wheel of the W06 for tomorrow’s running in Jerez, with Rosberg jumping back into the car on Tuesday.

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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”