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Mercedes 'on the up' - Rosberg

Nico Rosberg: "We have made a lot of progress over the four tests this winter and it's really nice to see that things are going in the right direction" © Sutton Images

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Nico Rosberg is confident Mercedes' fortunes are turning as it heads towards the first race of the season in Australia.

His team-mate Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of the final week of pre-season testing after a raft of upgrades were added to the car. Rosberg is confident the changes have worked and the team has met its goals in Barcelona.

"We have made a lot of progress over the four tests this winter and it's really nice to see that things are going in the right direction," Rosberg said. "We are on the up for sure, and all credit to the team for getting the upgrades on the car and, most importantly, to see that they are working as expected."

In soaking wet conditions Rosberg set the fastest time on the final day of testing, but admitted his afternoon in the car had only really been useful for assessing the full wet Pirelli tyres.

"It was tricky out there today; there wasn't a lot of grip, but it was really useful to get the experience on the Pirelli wet tyres."

Schumacher took part in the morning run and completed just five laps.

"It was good to complete a few laps out there this morning and try out the Pirelli wet tyres," he said. "There was obviously a limit to what we could achieve, but we made good use of the time by working through our race procedures. It's been a good week here in Barcelona and we're certainly happy with our position going into the first race of the season."

Team principle Ross Brawn said Mercedes would continue to develop the car at the factory right up to the opening round in Australia.

"We've had a very productive test in Barcelona working on the final specification of the MGP W02 for the first race of the season in Australia," he said. "Our upgrade package has performed as we expected, however Formula One continually moves forward, and as always, we will keep looking for more performance. We are happy with the structure that we applied to our pre-season testing programme, culminating in a good quantity of miles, and the car that we wanted to produce by the end of this test.

"Both drivers and the team have achieved a good amount of work for the new season in terms of race weekend simulations and it is now down to the final preparations for the first race. Then we will really see where we stand and how we have to react."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.