Mercedes AMG Petronas team boss Toto Wolff was quick to praise Nico Rosberg following his victory at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, congratulating the German on a “perfect job”.
Rosberg clinched his first victory of the season in Barcelona with relative ease, going unchallenged for the win as Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton became embroiled in a battle with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for second place.
Speaking after the race, Wolff revelled in yet another race win for Mercedes, believing that the result proved the team’s car updates had worked.
“That feels like two P1 results today after such a demanding race,” Wolff said. “Nico did the perfect job this afternoon: he had a great start, built the gaps that he needed and made his two-stop strategy work in a fantastic way. He was controlled and composed throughout.
“It’s a great feeling to take a one-two finish at this circuit, which is a really severe test for the complete car package, and a confirmation that the updates we brought in a number of areas correlated to the track and delivered a good performance improvement.
“Well done to everybody back at both factories, now we will get our heads down and start working for Monaco.”
After suffering four straight defeats to Hamilton at the start of the season, Rosberg bounced back in Spain to cut the Briton’s championship lead to 20 points. Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe spoke after the race about the importance of having two drivers pushing each other.
“We’re absolutely delighted with today’s result,” Lowe said. “Nico took an excellent pole yesterday, which put him in prime position to drive a controlled and disciplined race from the front.
“This is precisely what he did to take a well-earned first win of the season. It’s important for us as a team to have two drivers competing and pushing each other – which is exactly what we’re seeing again this year – so well done to Nico on a very strong weekend.”