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 can'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 . Hamilton goes into the season opener in Australia as favourite .