Nico Rosberg insists he will not allow complacency to slip into his mindset as he looks to hold off a title challenge from Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton.

The Mercedes duo have been involved in an intriguing tussle for the championship over the course of 2016 after leaving the rest of the field trailing.

Rosberg, who is priced at 2.30 to win the Malaysian GP, opened up an early lead in the title race by winning the first four events of the season, but Hamilton was quick to fight back as he claimed six of the following eight chequered flags to climb to the top of the standings.

The German has clawed back the difference after falling 19 points adrift of Hamilton he now leads by eight points going into this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

However, despite moving to the top of the Drivers’ Championship Rosberg insists he will not take anything for granted with six races left to play out.

Rosberg said: “It’s an incredible position to be in as a driver, knowing you have a shot at winning every weekend. “I won’t take it for granted.

“I’ve had a good run lately and I’m enjoying the moment. But as far as the next race goes, or the next one after that and so on… it’s anyone’s game.”

The 31-year-old travels to Malaysia off the back of victory in Singapore where Mercedes put on a much stronger showing than they managed to do so in 2015.

Rosberg hopes that he can keep that momentum going and has praised the team for working hard to understand what went wrong last year.

He added: “Singapore was a perfect weekend for me. “The team did such an impressive job understanding what went wrong last year and turning it around

“Red Bull and Ferrari are both pushing us really hard, so there will be some tough weekends ahead. It’s exciting for the fans and pushes us even harder to keep improving, so that’s a great thing.

“Malaysia didn’t work out perfectly for us last year, so if we can win it this time against such tough opposition that would be really awesome.”