Nico Rosberg believes that Mercedes GP will make a "big step" forwards by the time they reach Bahrain, with the team set to introduce a wide range of updates to their troublesome W01 car ready for the start of the new season.
Rosberg had a relatively fruitful penultimate day of pre-season testing on Thursday, setting the third quickest time behind Nico Hulkenberg's Williams and Mark Webber's pace-setting Red Bull, and the team are set to roll out their first upgrade package tomorrow, when Michael Schumacher will drive the car.
And despite the team looking to have lost ground to its rivals in testing so far, Rosberg is not overly concerned about their form, and believes that the changes to the car will help them start the season strongly.
"It's difficult to say exactly where we are," Rosberg said to the press at the end of the day.
"I think it's very close at the front, but that could all change again for Bahrain because the update we have is such a big step."
He added that his preparations for the new season were being affected by the impending upgrades, saying that it was difficult to work on detailed set-up issues, as the car was set to change so much by the start of the year.
"We did a lot today, made a lot of set-up changes, and we learned how they affected the car and how the car behaves on a long run," Rosberg yawned.
"The only thing is that you can't really work on details in terms of set-up because the car is going to change a lot for Bahrain, so there is no point in working on the small details now to maximise the performance."
Earlier today, team principal Ross Brawn confirmed that the team would not debut its definitive 2010 double diffuser until the opening round of the season.
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