The reigning Australian Grand Prix champion Nico Rosberg has praised his Mercedes team as the 2015 Formula One season prepares to start with the traditional opening race in Melbourne.

The German arrived for a news conference on a city tram on 11 March waving a chequered flag and holding the GP trophy.

"It feels fantastic. It's always great to start the season here in Melbourne and it's so cool to come here because the fans are so enthusiastic and that always gives a great atmosphere and I enjoy the racetrack, I enjoy the whole weekend here. Of course I have very good memories, winning here last year was very special and I'm out here to try and repeat that," Rosberg said.

Rosberg finished second to team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the driver's championship and predicted the Mercedes team will dominate in the year ahead.

"I've been there since day one of this project in the beginning of 2010 so I definitely have a good idea of why we're so strong now. We really struggled for many years but it's just been a build-up process. More people have joined the team, we've built this team into a much bigger team. It's much more structured now, the communication is better, the competence, we have even more competent people and it's just we are the best now in F1.

"We are the best team. We have the best individual departments, we have the best overall team, we have the best engine factory. They're just doing an awesome job and as in business when there's one company that's better than all the others, it's exactly the same here. Our race team is leading the way at the moment," he said.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo finished second in Melbourne last year but was subsequently disqualified for breaching fuel flow rate regulations.

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