Mercedes, Nico Rosberg: “It's an incredible feeling. Is fantastic"

An elated Nico Rosberg said he was surprised to have been so fast in the Chinese Grand Prix after taking his first Formula 1 victory.

The German driver took his first pole position in F1 yesterday, but there were fears for his pace in the race after the problems suffered by Mercedes in the first two Grands Prix with its tyres.

The problems disappeared in China, however, and Rosberg dominated from start to finish to take his first victory at the 111th attempt.

Rosberg, who took Mercedes' first F1 world championship victory as a constructor since 1955, admitted he was surprised by his pace in the race.

“It's an incredible feeling. I'm very cool, very happy and very excited,” Rosberg said. “It's been a long time coming for me and the team.”

“We didn't expect to win today. We knew we had a good chance of being up front but we didn't expect to be so fast.”

“Thanks to the team for working very hard, and for improving the set-up. I struggled in the first two races with the race pace but here everything went well."

Rosberg, who took the checkered flag more than 20 seconds ahead of Jenson Button, labeled his weekend as "perfect" after failing to score points in the first two races of the season.

“It's fantastic,” added Rosberg.

“This couldn't have been better. I'm very happy. It was a great race and it's impressive to see how we improved so quickly. We had struggled in the first two races, but we made some changes and everything became perfect. I'm happy for all of us and I couldn't wait to race in the next race."

Michael Schumacher was unfortunately forced to retire from the race on lap 15 due to a poorly fitted tire following his pit stop.