Nico Rosberg must reinvent himself in order to challenge Lewis Hamilton for this year 's Formula One championship , according to Damon Hill . Rosberg lost out to Hamilton at last season 's title decider in Abu Dhabi , with the Briton storming to the chequered flag as his Mercedes team-mate encountered technical gremlins . It marked Hamilton 's 11th victory of the campaign , six more than Rosberg . The Mercedes pair are set to go toe-to-toe for this year 's championship once more , with the Brackley-based outfit appearing to boast the strongest package ahead of Sunday 's curtain raiser in Melbourne . Nico Rosberg needs a reinvention if he is to challenge Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton , says Damon Hill . Hamilton roared to championship victory in 2014 with 11 race victories to his rival team-mate 's six . Hamilton ( left ) and Rosberg come together following their final race of a tumultuous season last year . Rosberg has a more subtle skill set than his formidable team-mate Hamilton , says Hill . And Hill , the 1996 world champion , believes Rosberg has to improve on his displays of last season to stand any chance of stopping Hamilton from claiming back-to-back titles . 'Nico has talents that are slightly more subtle and less obvious than Lewis , but I think he is going to have to invent a new Nico to counter his team-mate , ' said Hill . 'If you look at the strike-rate of Lewis 's wins in comparison to Nico , that was pretty formidable really . Does it change that much and can it change that much over the winter ? 'It can , but politically now Nico had an opportunity last year to establish himself as the guy that the team wants to invest in , but Lewis really captured that with the biggest prize going . 'The championship was delivered by Lewis , so he is clearly someone , if Mercedes have to hedge one way or the other , then they will go for Lewis . ' Hamilton will begin the new campaign as the favourite to claim his third championship . But does Hill believe there is any danger that the Briton , whose celebrity status outside Formula One continues to grow following a number of showbiz appearances during the off season , will take his eye off the ball ? 'You never know with Lewis , ' he admitted . 'He keeps us guessing and it would be easy to take some of the signals he puts out as being slightly distracted by other things . Hamilton will begin the new Formula One campaign as the favourite to claim his third championship . Star power : Some read Hamilton 's glitzy lifestyle - here he ( second left ) poses during Paris Fashion Week with celebrities ( from left ) Jared Leto , Kanye West , Olivier Rousteing , Kim Kardashian - as a distraction . 'But he knows what he is doing when he gets in the car and why he is there . He has got so much confidence in his own ability . ' I ca n't see him getting propely distracted . He wanted to do this all of his life and I think now he has got the ball rolling he wants to win . He can see the prizes , he collects his trophies and is very proud of his success and he still talks as if he is stunned by his own success . He will be very difficult to beat this year . ' Sky Sports F1® is the only place fans can watch all 20 Grand Prix weekends live across TV , Sky Go and NOW TV .
Lewis Hamilton won 11 races in 2014 ahead of Nico Rosberg 's six . Former world champion Damon Hill said Hamilton remains formidable . The 1996 title winner said Rosberg needs to change to beat the Brit . TL;DR