Rosberg: "Ferrari and Red Bull are very close"

Nico Rosberg says that his Mercedes team must find anything they can this weekend in order to stay ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull.

The German, who saw his championship lead shrink to just nine points after a disappointing Canadian Grand Prix believes that getting on top of the new Baku City Circuit quickly could be key to maintaining his title challenge.

"Now we head to Baku, which is going to be a massive challenge. It's a completely new track and a street circuit too, which makes it even more difficult," he said. "I've done some work in the simulator, of course, to get a feel for what to expect and to learn the layout."

"Ferrari and Red Bull are very close to our pace now, so any tiny difference we can find this weekend could make the difference" Rosberg added. "I'm excited to get out there, get to know the track and a new city and hopefully get myself back to the top after a tough few races."

Looking back to Monaco and Canada
Rosberg's fifth place finish in Canada was the third consecutive race where he had failed to register a race victory after winning the opening four rounds of the season.

The Mercedes driver collided with team mate Lewis Hamilton in Spain, before going on to finish seventh in Monaco, but the despite the difficult run Rosberg has said he won't be changing his approach.

"Canada unfortunately didn't work out as planned," Rosberg said. "But that's how things go when you're pushing the limits and I'm not going to change my approach or start backing down. I'm in this Championship battle to win it - not to settle for second best."