Nico Rosberg has said that he is determined to make 2016 'his year', after two consecutive championship defeats to his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

The Mercedes driver said that the lowest point came in Austin, where he threw away a race win, allowing Hamilton to wrap up the title with three races to spare.

"That was a very, very tough moment," German Rosberg recalled during an interview with RTL. "But I was also able to fight back again with three wins consecutively and very dominantly.

"It was cool to do that and now I have tried as much as possible to carry it over to this year. But unfortunately that is difficult to do as the car is new, the situation is new.

"It is good that my teammate sets such a high benchmark. If I beat him all the time, the challenge would no longer be interesting."

The new season gets underway next weekend with the Australian Grand Prix.