Rosberg claims important for him to beat Hamilton for first time in 2015 in Bahrain GP

Mercedes racer Nico Rosberg has claimed that it is important for him to finish ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton for the first time this season at Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

Rosberg, who trails Hamilton by 17 points after three races and has neither out-qualified nor finished ahead of the Briton so far in 2015, said that he does think that he can beat his teammate in Bahrain, but added that he also thought that the last two races and it didn't go that way.

Rosberg claimed that he needs to get points back as soon as possible, the BBC reported.

Double world champion Hamilton has won eight of the last 10 races dating back to the Italian Grand Prix in September last year and has beaten Rosberg four times in a row, including the final race of last season in Abu Dhabi.

Rosberg, who finished third behind Hamilton and race winner Sebastian Vettel in Sepang, said that it was very important to beat the Briton in Malaysia two races ago, adding that last year his teammate had a run of four wins and then right after that he had the best run of his year for quite a lot of time.