We need to find more performance to head off the opposition, Williams ace underlines.
Nico Rosberg has urged Williams to improve its performance in the 2008 Formula 1 campaign, after revealing that he 'gave it his all' to claim the final point in the Turkish Grand Prix.
Having begun the season in a blaze of glory with the maiden rostrum finish of his career in the top flight Down Under in Melbourne, Rosberg has since suffered as Williams' fortunes have dipped, snatching a sole point in Bahrain and being on-course for possibly sixth place in Barcelona - from all the way down in 15th on the grid - before the Toyota engine in the back of his FW30 went bang.
Despite struggling in qualifying - having only made the top ten on a couple of occasions this year to-date - the young German has invariably raced well, and the same was true in Istanbul as he out-ran Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Red Bull Racing ace David Coulthard to take the chequered flag in eighth position, just seven seconds adrift of the sister RBR machine of Mark Webber.
"I am happy with my result," the 22-year-old enthused afterwards. "I had a fantastic first lap, although I very nearly lost it all when [Nick] Heidfeld went wide while I was alongside him. He didn't know I was there, so I had to go off the track. When I came back on, I was all over the place but I then passed Coulthard and Trulli on the outside of turn three.
"I gave it my all on every lap and it was a fantastic race for me today. Anymore, though, is just not possible at the moment, but I am looking forward to the next two races which traditionally suit our car."
Team-mate Kazuki Nakajima, meanwhile, was considerably less fortunate, as the Japanese rookie found himself on the receiving end of the unwelcome attentions of Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella into turn one on the opening tour. The Italian slammed into the back of him, removing his rear wing in the process and meaning it was game over before the first lap was even out.
"I don't know exactly what happened," the 23-year-old admitted. "I just went into the first corner following the guy in front. I didn't change my line and I was suddenly hit from behind.
"I wanted to make it back to the garage as I thought there was a chance to get the problem fixed and get back out, but my car had suffered too much damage so I had to retire. It's a real shame because we showed we had good long-run pace on Friday and were expecting to have the same pace in the race, so we could have done well here this afternoon."
The Grove-based outfit's technical director Sam Michael elected to take the positives away from the weekend, whilst echoing Rosberg's suggestion that the team needs to find more speed if it is to successfully stave off the onslaughts of Renault, Red Bull Racing and Toyota for fourth place in the constructors' title chase.
"It's good to get a point for the constructors' championship," the Australian underlined. "It was a clear-headed drive from Nico; he was flat-out all afternoon, didn't make any mistakes and delivered. Unfortunately, the traffic just prior to both pit-stops cost him some time.
"Kazuki was hit from behind which left his car too badly damaged to continue so his race was over, which was a shame. Apart from that, we had no reliability issues.
"The whole midfield is very tight now as today demonstrated, so we need to bring some more performance to the car if we are going to stay in the battle for fourth place."
