Nico Rosberg
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Born in Wiesbaden, Germany, on June 27, 1985, Nico has strong family ties to the Williams team with his father, Keke, winning the World Championship with the team in 1982. For his part, Nico first tested a single seater aged 11 and after several years karting around the world, culminating in a runner’s up place in the European Championships in 2000, he established his own genuine racing credentials when he won the Formula BMW Series in 2002 by taking the chequered flag no fewer than nine times from 18 starts in a single season.
However, it was no sure thing that Nico would be promoted to the role of a professional racing driver. The Rosberg family ethos has been very much about balance and careful consideration. Nico enjoyed a normal childhood in Monaco, encouraged by his parents to pursue all possible academic and vocational options open to him. He completed his schooling with strong grades and he was offered a place at Imperial College, London, to read for a degree in Aeronautics.
Acknowledging that it was now time to make a decision that would affect his future, Nico opted to pursue his racing career. His decision was vindicated when, at the end of 2005, Nico claimed the inaugural GP2 championship with a dazzling display of race craft and intelligence.
The incentive to choose the racing future had perhaps been made at the end of the 2002 season when Nico won the Formula BMW title. The reward for his endeavours was a Formula One test with the BMW WilliamsF1 Team on December 3, 2002. At the tender age of 17, he commented after his first 38 Formula One laps that, “The step from 140BHP to 930 BHP was just amazing. It felt like a rocket, something like a computer game because everything kept coming and going at an unreal velocity. Now I don’t want to drive anything else.”
The initial transition to Formula One from GP2 in 2006 seemed effortless for the young German, and his start could hardly have been more explosive, claiming seventh place in the first race of the season in Bahrain and recording the fastest lap of the race on his debut. In the ensuing race in Malaysia, Nico qualified third, although mechanical maladies were to prevent him from converting his early prowess into points. As the season progressed, Rosberg established himself as a capable rookie, quickly able to adjust to the demands of new circuits and confident as well as proficient enough to lock horns with his experienced team-mate, Mark Webber.
The season, however, was a fight for the team, who struggled with reliability issues which sapped the ability to develop and progress the FW28 for the young German. Although it was his maiden Formula One season, it was character-building stuff that reinforced Nico’s investment in the value and importance of team work and the delicate inter-dependencies between driver, trackside team and the wider company workforce back at base.
2007 was therefore a re-building season, in which Rosberg informally took the lead, helping the team recover from 8th in the Championship the previous season to a far more creditable 4th place. His personal progression was impressive, with Nico’s average qualifying position improving by five grid places from 14th in 2006 to 9th in 2007. From only three entries into the final round of qualifying in 2006, Nico made it into the top ten knock-out round no less than 11 times in 2007. In the 13 races he finished, Nico gained 24 places and averaged 8th place. A measured drive to a career best fourth place at the final race in Brazil concluded a successful season for Nico. All of this saw Nico improve to 9th in the Drivers’ standings.
Part of Rosberg’s undoubted growth and progression was achieved out of the car as much as in it. With his innate technical disposition and mindset, he spends long hours immersed in discussion with his engineers at races and at the test track, contributing to the process of incremental refinement and improvement of his race car. Allied with a strong qualifying capability and intelligent and consistent racing, his progression last season shows no signs of abating and bodes well for the year ahead.
Nico’s progression last year amply demonstrated his inherently competitive nature, which manifests in everything he does, whether a friendly football kick-around or driving himself in his physical training activities. As a competent tennis player and enthusiastic footballer, Nico has recently adopted rock climbing as a new interest, one he finds not just a physical benefit in light of its co-ordination demands, but equally a mental challenge, simultaneously requiring him to solve problems while coping with the physical demand.
As much as a personal climb to become a genuine contender in a highly competitive Driver’s Championship, Nico has in signing an extended contract with Williams until the end of 2009, become a focus for the team’s revitalisation and commitment in 2008 to become a force to be reckoned with once more. As Williams’ Director of Engineering commented, “Nico represents the new generation of Formula One drivers. He is one of the hopefuls who will fight at the front of the sport in the near future.”
Nico Rosberg At A Glance
Date of birth: 27th June 1985
Lives: Monaco
Nationality: German
Marital status: Single
Height: 1.78m
Weight: 73kg
Hobbies: Soccer, climbing, backgammon
Website: www.nicorosberg.com
Career Highlights:
1996 Regional Côte d'Azur mini-kart Champion
1997 French mini-kart Champion
1998 North American ICA Junior Karting Champion
1999 Runner-up, Italian ICA Junior Karting Championship 4th ICA Junior European Karting Championship
2000 Runner up, Formula A European Karting Championship
2001 Super A World Karting Championship
2002 Formula BMW ADAC Champion, 9 wins
2003 F3 Euro-series, 2nd in Rookie Category, 1 win
2004 F3 Euro-series, 4th overall, 3 wins
2005 GP2 Series with the ART Grand Prix Team, WilliamsF1 Team official test driver
2006 FIA Formula One World Championship with the WilliamsF1 Team
2007 FIA Formula One World Championship with AT&T Williams
2008 FIA Formula One World Championship with AT&T Williams
Formula One Statistics To Date:
Formula One debut: 2006 Bahrain GP
GP starts: 35
Victories: -
Pole positions: -
Podiums: -
Fastest laps: 1
Total Points: (2006: 4, 2007: 20)
