• Italian Grand Prix - FP2

Rosberg calls Red Bull pace 'worrying'

Nico Rosberg was seventh fastest in FP2, over 0.9s off the quickest time © Sutton Images

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Nico Rosberg described the time set by Sebastian Vettel during FP2 for the Italian Grand Prix as "a bit worrying".

Vettel was over 0.6s clear of the rest of the field in the afternoon session, with Rosberg himself almost a second off the pace on the medium tyre. When asked if he was confident Mercedes could make significant progress overnight, Rosberg replied: "I'm quite confident, but the Red Bull time is a bit worrying. I think they're very quick again so it is going to be tough to beat them, probably."

However, Rosberg was more confident that there was scope for Mercedes to at least close the gap.

"We always seem to progress a little bit from Friday to Saturday so I wouldn't say yet that we're exactly where we will be on Sunday so we'll wait and see. But it's been a good day again, I learned so much doing laps on low fuel, doing high fuel, practicing for the race, it's a huge learning curve. Just with everything - the settings, the set-up, how I need to drive the corners; every lap I'm driving the corners differently and improving - so it's been an interesting day and I think a good day for us."

With both Lotus cars ahead of the two Mercedes, Rosberg added that he wasn't surprised by the FP2 standings.

"I'm not sure. On Friday they've been ahead of us before and then most of the time on Saturday they have been behind us. So that is going to be important for tomorrow but it's not really a big concern at the moment."

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