German Nico Rosberg saluted his Mercedes team for their overnight work on improving his car enough to land him pole position on Saturday for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix. The 27-year-old - whose sole win came in last year's China Grand Prix - secured the Mercedes team's second successive pole when he clocked a best time of one minute and 32.330 seconds in the final Q3 segment of the qualifying hour. It was Rosberg's second career pole.

By John O'Brien SEPANG, Malaysia (Reuters) - Germany's Nico Rosberg would have stood on the Malaysian Grand Prix podium had he taken a leaf out of compatriot Sebastian Vettel's book and ignored his team's orders on Sunday. Instead, the Mercedes Formula One driver finished a frustrated fourth behind Lewis Hamilton but earned his team mate's thanks and recognition.

By Nick Mulvenney MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Nico Rosberg drew first blood in his personal battle with new Mercedes team mate and old friend Lewis Hamilton on Friday - a tussle he hopes will spur him on to become an even better driver this year. The first day of the Australian Grand Prix was marred for the team when technical problems resulted in a premature end to the second practice session for both drivers but third place on the timesheets for Rosberg offered much promise for the season.