Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg

Rosberg at the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix
Born	27 June 1985 Wiesbaden, West Germany
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	German
Active years	2006–2016
Teams	Williams, Mercedes
2016 team	Mercedes[1]
Car number	6
Entries	206 (206 starts)
Championships	1 (2016)
Wins	23
Podiums	57
Career points	1594.5
Pole positions	30
Fastest laps	20
First entry	2006 Bahrain Grand Prix
First win	2012 Chinese Grand Prix
Last win	2016 Japanese Grand Prix
Last entry	2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
2016 position	1st (385 pts)

Nico Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German former Formula 1 racing driver who drove for Williams F1 and Mercedes AMG Petronas. Born in Germany as the son of Finnish former world champion Keke Rosberg and his German mother, he raced under the German flag in Formula One, but has also briefly competed for Finland in early stages of his racing career. Rosberg holds dual nationality of these two countries;^[2] however, although reputed to be fluent in five languages, he does not speak Finnish.^[3]

Rosberg won the 2005 GP2 Series for the ART team, having raced in Formula 3 Euro Series previously for his father's racing organisation Team Rosberg. He entered Formula One in 2006 with Williams, the team with which his father had won the 1982 championship. After four years with Williams, in 2010 he joined the re-branded Mercedes team, formed by Mercedes's takeover of 2009 Constructors' Champion Brawn GP. He enjoyed his most successful period with Mercedes, winning 23 Grands Prix and earning 30 pole positions. In a period of Mercedes dominance, he had a fierce rivalry with his teammate Lewis Hamilton, finishing second in the World Championship in 2014 and 2015, behind Hamilton.

In 2016 he finally became Formula One World Champion after an intense duel with Hamilton, which was undecided until the final race, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He announced his retirement from the sport five days later, on 2 December 2016.

Early and personal life

Rosberg was born in Wiesbaden, Hesse, West Germany; the son of Finnish 1982 Formula One world champion Keke Rosberg and his German wife Sina. Rosberg was born only four days after his father won the 1985 Detroit Grand Prix, driving a Williams-Honda. Rosberg, who spent much of his youth in Monaco with his family, still lives in the principality and speaks, apart from his native German, several languages fluently: English, French, Italian and (a little less fluently) Spanish.^[4] His father deliberately chose not to teach him Finnish, concentrating on those other languages which would be more important for Nico's life and racing career.^[5]

He holds dual citizenship, German and Finnish and has competed under both the Finnish and German flag during different points in his early career.^[2] The FIA does not allow one to compete under two nationalities simultaneously in any FIA world championship and Rosberg elected to drive under the German flag when he entered Formula One.^[6]

Rosberg married his childhood friend and long-time fiancée Vivian Sibold on 11 July 2014.^[7] Their daughter, Alaïa Rosberg, was born on 30 August 2015.^[8]

Early career

Rosberg won the 2002 German Formula BMW championship, an important milestone in his racing career.

Junior formulae (1996–2004)

Rosberg started out in karting at the age of six;^[9] later in 2000 he and Lewis Hamilton were teammates.^[10] Rosberg then moved up to German Formula BMW in 2002, where he won the title. His performances resulted in a move to drive for his father's team in Formula 3 Euro Series, a combination of the several national Formula Three championships that had existed prior to its formation. Rosberg did well there, and stayed on for 2004. In early 2004, he got one of his first tastes of Formula One by doing a test session with Williams.^[11]

GP2 (2005)

Offered a place on the aeronautical engineering course at Imperial College London;^[12] Rosberg declined and in 2005 joined the ART Grand Prix team in the newly created GP2 Series. He went on to become the first driver to win the GP2 title.

Formula One

Williams (2006–2009)

2006

Rosberg at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix

In late 2005, Rosberg was officially confirmed as a Williams driver for the 2006 season. In the Engineering Aptitude Test, administered to all new Williams drivers, Rosberg achieved the highest score in the team's history.^[13] In the first Formula One race of his young career in Bahrain, Rosberg was driving a car which was not considered competitive enough to get to the podium,^[14] and also had to fight his way through the field after losing his nose cone on the first lap. Nonetheless, he finished in the points, seventh behind teammate Mark Webber, and recorded the fastest lap, becoming, at the time, the youngest driver to do so in F1 history. Following this he was linked with a move to teams such as McLaren.^[15]

He qualified third at the next round Malaysia, but his Cosworth engine, on its second mandatory race, blew up after only seven laps. Rosberg did get into the points for the second time in the 2006 season at the European Grand Prix, benefiting from the hydraulic failure of his teammate.

The rest of the 2006 season went less well for Rosberg; he retired in four of the next seven Grands Prix, and in the ones he did finish he was outside the points. His closest attempt to get into the points was in Britain, where he was just one second behind eighth placed Jacques Villeneuve. Rosberg scored a total of four points, three fewer than teammate Webber, over the course of what was a disappointing season for both himself and for the Williams team.

2007

Rosberg at the 2007 British Grand Prix

Williams brought in new Toyota engines for 2007, along with a new team-mate, Alexander Wurz. Rosberg's old team-mate, Mark Webber, had moved to partner David Coulthard at Red Bull Racing. Initially, the Toyota powered FW29 showed potential in the pre-season test sessions.^[16] However, Rosberg remained realistic: "in F1 you cannot normally just jump back to the front [of the grid] from one year to the next".^[17]

Rosberg scored his best result of 2007 with fourth place at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix, overtaking both BMW Saubers in the process.

In 2007, Rosberg finished in the points seven times, including a career best fourth at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. He was also placed seventh in the Australian, Hungarian and Turkish Grands Prix and came home sixth at the Italian and Belgian Grands Prix. At the Canadian Grand Prix, Rosberg qualified seventh and moved up two places from the start:

"Early in the race I thought I was set for a good result because I was running fifth and the car felt really good, but then the Safety Car came out on lap 21... I had to stop for fuel on lap 23, which meant I missed the re-fuelling window by 13 seconds and that effectively ended my race. New rules punish people who pit immediately after the Safety Car comes out, so I was given a 10s stop-go penalty and all I could manage after that was 10th place."^[18]

He suffered only three retirements during 2007; hydraulic failure 14 laps from home in Malaysia and an oil leak at the US Grand Prix five laps from the finish (although classified 16th), where he was on course for sixth place. He had started the race 14th having "glazed" his brakes during qualifying, therefore damaging his confidence. An electronics glitch also put him out of the Japanese Grand Prix.

During the first half of 2007 season, Rosberg saw his teammate Alexander Wurz score more points, but later in the season Rosberg passed Wurz in world championship points, eventually more than quadrupling his 2006 points haul with 20 points.

2008

Rosberg secured the first podium finish of his career with a strong drive to third place at the 2008 Australian Grand Prix. However, the remainder of the season was more of a struggle. He was given a ten place grid penalty for the French Grand Prix, as a result of crashing into the back of Lewis Hamilton in the pit lane at the Canadian Grand Prix, despite only his race being affected by the incident as Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen were already eliminated.

In September he finished second to Fernando Alonso in the floodlit Singapore Grand Prix after leading a Grand Prix for the first time in his career. This result was despite incurring a ten-second stop-go penalty for pitting while the pitlane was closed immediately after the deployment of the safety car. However, as what appeared to be a simple administrative formality took ten laps to issue, and the slow car of Giancarlo Fisichella was between Rosberg and the next competitive car during those laps, he did not lose much time and rejoined fifth, whereas Robert Kubica dropped from fourth to last on the same penalty for the same offence.

2009

Rosberg driving for Williams at the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix

Rosberg had a solid season in 2009, scoring points at almost every race and also consistently qualifying in the top ten. He opened the season with a solid sixth place in Melbourne, before fading somewhat in the next three races. From China onwards however, he improved, finishing eighth, then sixth, then fifth twice. At his home race in Germany, he put in arguably the best drive of his career at the time, when he overcame fuel problems to climb from 15th on the grid and finish fourth ahead of championship leader Jenson Button. He then followed this up with another fourth place in the Hungarian Grand Prix and 5th in the European Grand Prix. Despite scoring a point in the Belgian Grand Prix, Rosberg's effort to score points at every race in the European season was ended by a lack of pace at Monza. Despite this, Rosberg returned to competitiveness at the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix by qualifying third and putting in the fastest lap of the weekend in Q2 (1:46.197). Despite overtaking Sebastian Vettel off the line, and being on course for second place or even a maiden victory, Rosberg undid all his good work by crossing the white line out of his first pit stop and incurring a drive-through penalty just in time for the safety car. With the field bunched, he dropped to the back, effectively ruining his race. Rosberg apologised to the team afterward, calling his mistake 'silly' and 'stupid'. Rosberg managed to claim fifth place at the Japanese Grand Prix after qualifying eleventh and starting in P7 on a good strategy after a number of grid penalties. Soon after the race Jenson Button reported Rosberg to race stewards for speeding under yellow flag conditions, but Rosberg was cleared after stewards discovered that his dashboard display was only showing that he had low fuel. This secured Rosberg four points, putting him in seventh place in the Drivers' Championship with 34.5 points and Williams sixth in the Constructors' Championship. Rosberg scored every point for the Williams team during the 2009 season.

Mercedes (2010–2016)

2010

Rosberg driving for Mercedes at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix

On 29 October 2009 Rosberg announced he was leaving the Williams team at the end of the season. He commented that Williams "have really supported my career over the years and I'd like to say a big thank you to them. However, I'm not sure they can win races at the moment and I would like to".^[19] On 16 November 2009, Brawn GP was bought by Mercedes and re-branded as Mercedes GP for the 2010 Formula One season. On 23 November 2009, Rosberg was announced as the team's first driver.^[20] On 23 December 2009, Michael Schumacher was announced as Rosberg's team-mate, and was given Rosberg's car number (3) because of superstitious reasons.^[21] Despite much hype concerning Schumacher's comeback, Rosberg managed to successfully out-qualify and out-race his team mate at most races. In Malaysia, Rosberg achieved his first front row grid start, having qualified second in a qualifying session disrupted by rain, again out-qualifying Schumacher. He eventually finished third in the race, Mercedes's first podium as a works team since their comeback. His third place at the Chinese Grand Prix provided Rosberg with his second podium in succession, and he momentarily moved into second place in the Drivers' Championship standings.

He finished seventh at Monaco, fifth in Turkey and sixth in Canada, but only tenth in the European Grand Prix. However, in the British Grand Prix, Rosberg managed a podium finish in third place by holding off Alonso and then Button. But at the German Grand Prix, Mercedes were once again off the pace, and Rosberg could only finish eighth, ahead of teammate Schumacher. Hungary looked more promising, but he lost a wheel while exiting his pit stop and was forced to retire from a point-scoring position. His race at Spa was more successful, and a race-long duel with Schumacher left Rosberg narrowly ahead of his team mate in sixth. The Italian Grand Prix yielded another consistent finish in fifth, achieved mainly by passing both Red Bulls at the start. He took another fifth-place finish in Singapore.

However, he was hit by bad luck in Japan, when under pressure from Schumacher, a wheel detached itself from his car and put Rosberg into the wall. At the inaugural Korean Grand Prix he was even more unfortunate, when while running a strong fourth, he retired from the race after being collected by Mark Webber. Webber had spun into the wall and momentum took him back onto the racing line and left Rosberg with nowhere to go and the two collided. The race at Interlagos was more positive, with Rosberg finishing sixth, despite three pit stops, two of which were taken under safety car conditions which minimised a loss of track position. The following week in Abu Dhabi, Rosberg again pitted under the safety car and this allowed him to finish fourth, a result that secured him seventh in the Drivers' Championship. Rosberg finished 16 of the season's 19 races, of which 15 were in the points.

Rosberg at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.

2011

The new Mercedes MGP W02 proved to be very fast in winter testing. In Australia, Rosberg showed his speed until retiring due to a collision with Barrichello. In Malaysia, Rosberg started ninth and finished twelfth, meaning that for the first time in his career he failed to score a single point in the opening two races of a season. Rosberg took his first points finish of the season in China, having qualified fourth and finishing fifth, as well as leading fourteen laps during the race.^[22] During the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix, Rosberg overtook Sebastian Vettel during the first lap of the race and led again for three laps in total, but then quickly fell down the field and on lap 42 of 44 allowed his teammate Schumacher to pass him for fifth after the team warned him that he should save fuel.^[23]

Rosberg at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix

Rosberg eventually ended the championship in the seventh place for the third time in a row, again above Schumacher in the final standings. However, he had scored no podium finishes during the season, and the gap in terms of points between Rosberg and his teammate decreased from seventy points in 2010 to thirteen in 2011. This was partly because the Mercedes MGP W02 generally had nobody to compete with, with Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari having superior cars and other teams being more slow-paced than MGP W02.^[24] Rosberg himself pointed to the fact that due to the new Pirelli tyres and the Drag Reduction System, introduced in 2011, overtaking had become more possible and qualifying – where he still had beaten Schumacher 16:3 – had lost its importance.^[25] Despite that, he praised DRS, stating that it could turn out to be one of the best rules in Formula One history.^[26]

2012

Rosberg at the 2012 United States Grand Prix

Rosberg finished outside the points in the first two races of the season in Australia and Malaysia, finishing twelfth and thirteenth respectively. At the Chinese Grand Prix, Rosberg gained the first pole position of his career.^[27] Rosberg took advantage of his grid position to storm to his maiden victory finishing over twenty seconds ahead of second-placed Jenson Button who fell back after a pit-stop error. In this way Rosberg took his first points of the season and Mercedes's first win since Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, prior to their withdrawal from the sport.^[28] In addition to that, Rosberg became the first German driver to win a Grand Prix driving a German car since Hermann Lang's victory at the 1939 Swiss Grand Prix and the first driver to win a Grand Prix during the life of their father who also achieved a Grand Prix victory in Formula One. Subsequently, Rosberg finished 2nd in Monaco but he was mostly slower than Schumacher in qualifying, slipping to ninth in the standings.

2013

Rosberg during practice for the 2013 British Grand Prix; Rosberg achieved his second win of the season in the race.

Rosberg remained at Mercedes for the 2013 season but Michael Schumacher announced his retirement and he was replaced by Lewis Hamilton after Hamilton signed a three-year contract with the team. Rosberg retired from the Australian Grand Prix with an electrical problem,^[29] and he finished fourth at the Malaysian Grand Prix^[30] after being ordered by the team not to overtake Hamilton. During the Monaco Grand Prix, he had pole position, led every lap and won the race, especially notable given that he considers Monaco his home and that his father Keke Rosberg won the same race exactly thirty years earlier. On 30 June, Rosberg claimed his second win of the season and third of his career at the British Grand Prix.^[31] He benefited from a puncture suffered by his team-mate Hamilton and a technical failure for Vettel. Rosberg came back to being 2nd best to Vettel after the summer break qualifying 2nd, only 0.010 seconds behind Sebastian Vettel. Three races later he started and finished 2nd in India, and in Abu Dhabi he finished third. Rosberg again qualified an impressive 2nd at the wet Brazil after finishing first in the practice sessions. He even took the lead but had to settle for 5th, finishing the season in sixth place in the championship with 171 points compared to teammate Hamilton's 189.

2014

Rosberg at the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix

In the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, Rosberg, having started from third, won the race by over 20 seconds; his father Keke had won the first Formula One Australian Grand Prix in 1985 in Adelaide. Daniel Ricciardo finished the race second, but was later disqualified for a fuel infringement,^[32] promoting Kevin Magnussen to second and his team mate Jenson Button to third. In Malaysia he finished 2nd, 17 seconds behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton, but in front of Sebastian Vettel to give Mercedes-Benz their first 1–2 since 1955 Italian Grand Prix. In Bahrain Rosberg took pole position but lost out to Hamilton at the start of the race, and eventually finished second to his teammate. Rosberg said the race was "a day for the sport" considering the criticism that Formula One has had in 2014. In China he started fourth but fell back to sixth in the opening lap, however fought to finish second ahead of Fernando Alonso.

As the season moved to Europe for the Spanish Grand Prix, Rosberg was pipped to pole by Hamilton. Rosberg stayed with Hamilton for the whole race but could not get through, finishing 0.6 seconds behind him meaning Hamilton took the championship lead for the first time in 2014. In Monaco Rosberg took pole position, but a controversial one where he was investigated by the stewards after a suspected offence for causing a yellow flag incident.^[33] Hamilton believed Rosberg had made the mistake deliberately to secure pole but the stewards saw it as an accidental incident. Rosberg's lead extended by 18 points in Canada after he and Hamilton had MGU-K and brake issues, but forced Hamilton to retire and not Rosberg, finishing second.

Rosberg with Russian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton and Russian President Vladimir Putin, 13 October 2014

In Austria he won ahead of his teammate, and then took pole position at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, leading until lap 28 where his gearbox failed. At the next round in Germany, Rosberg took the 9th pole position of his career, where Hamilton suffered a brake failure in qualifying, and was forced to start from 20th. Rosberg then went on to take a comfortable victory by 20 seconds from Valtteri Bottas, increasing his lead over Hamilton to 14 points. Rosberg's victory was the first German Grand Prix win for a German driver at the wheel of a German car since Rudolf Caracciola – also for Mercedes – in 1939. In Hungary, Rosberg took pole position again and led the early stages of the race before a safety car period. For the majority of the race, Rosberg was unable to pass the cars of Jean-Éric Vergne and team-mate Hamilton; he ultimately finished fourth, behind Ricciardo, Alonso and Hamilton.^[34] In Belgium he collided with his teammate, putting Hamilton out of the race, while Rosberg finished second.

At Monza he attempted to overtake Hamilton for the lead, but locked up under braking for the first chicane on lap 29, and was forced down the escape road. Hamilton overtook Rosberg as he was doing so, and went on to take the race win. The next round in Singapore resulted in Rosberg retiring from the race, after an electrical failure. In Japan, Rosberg achieved pole position from Hamilton, but lost out to him in the race, which held in wet conditions and stopped early due to the fatal accident of Jules Bianchi. From the United States Grand Prix onwards, he took three consecutive pole positions to the end of the season, winning for the fifth time in Brazil compared to Hamilton's ten. In the last race of the season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Rosberg still had a fighting chance to win the championship title. Later in the race he suffered from technical difficulties with his car losing the ERS. Ultimately he finished 14th and lost the title to Hamilton, saying: "Lewis did a better job than me".^[35] He finished the season with career bests in wins (5), podiums (15), pole positions (11), and fastest laps (5).

2015

Rosberg at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix

Rosberg's 2015 season began with second place behind teammate Lewis Hamilton in Australia and third in Malaysia behind Sebastian Vettel from Ferrari, and Hamilton. Rosberg was second in China and third in Bahrain after a brake failure. He recorded his first pole position of the season in Spain and followed that with his first win of the season, his first in Spain and ninth career win. He achieved his tenth career win at Monaco to become the fourth driver to win the Monaco GP three times in succession (alongside Graham Hill, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost) giving him the best streak of wins there since Senna's run of 5 in 1989–1993. It was also the first time he won successive F1 races. He followed this up with second place in Canada before taking his third victory of the season, and eleventh of his career, in Austria. At the British Grand Prix, he once again qualified and finished second behind team mate Lewis Hamilton. In Hungary he ran as high as second before colliding with Daniel Ricciardo, and eventually finishing in 8th place. Rosberg's championship hopes started to disappear at Monza when he retired because of his engine and later in Russia after starting on pole position due to a sticking throttle. Rosberg took his 4th pole position and third consecutive this season in America. Although he lost out at the start, he fought back from fifth to first, overtaking Kvyat, Ricciardo and Hamilton and controlled the race after the safety cars, until he made a mistake with ten laps to go, losing both the race and the World Drivers' Championship to Hamilton at race's end. For much of the Grand Prix, Rosberg was driving "like a champion", as BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard put it at the time. Following the race, Rosberg created minor controversy on social media when he threw back a cap Hamilton had thrown to him.^[36][37] He responded to his defeat in the US with a dominant victory in the Mexican Grand Prix for his 12th career win in the first Grand Prix in Mexico in 23 years and then his 13th career victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix, which helped him to secure second place in the championship. He finished the season with a win over Hamilton at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, leveling his career wins with Graham Hill.

2016

Rosberg's title-winning and final season began with a front row start and then victory in the Australian Grand Prix giving him the lead of the World Championship for the first time since 2014. He followed this up with another front row start and victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix. He claimed pole position and victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, extending his championship lead to 36 points from teammate and defending champion Lewis Hamilton. Rosberg followed with pole position at the Russian Grand Prix and led the race from start to finish to claim his first Grand Slam, seventh consecutive race win, and become the first driver since Michael Schumacher in 2004 to win the first four races of the season. Rosberg took another front row in the Spanish Grand Prix but retired along with his teammate Lewis Hamilton after the two collided on the first lap.

Rosberg leading his teammate in Monaco

Rosberg took another front row at the Monaco Grand Prix but struggled for pace early in very wet conditions and was asked to let Hamilton through. After a later stop for dry tyres, he found himself in sixth stuck behind Fernando Alonso and unable to pass and as a light shower arrived at the end of the race was overtaken by Nico Hülkenberg and finished seventh, his worst result in Monaco since 2011 and one which saw his lead in the Championship cut to 24 points over Lewis Hamilton, who won the race. In Canada, Rosberg took his seventh front row of the season after qualifying 0.062 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton. In the race Rosberg was pushed wide by Hamilton at the start and dropped down to tenth. He then fought his way back into fourth before having to pit with a slow puncture which dropped him to seventh. He then overtook Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Räikkönen to get back into fifth and was chasing Max Verstappen but unable to get past. On the penultimate lap, Rosberg half spun whilst trying to overtake Verstappen but had a big enough gap over Räikkönen and finished the race in fifth with his championship lead over Hamilton cut to 9 points. Rosberg bounced back with pole position and victory at the brand new Baku circuit whereas team-mate and title rival Lewis Hamilton hit the wall in Q3 and started tenth and finished fifth allowing him to increase his Championship lead to 24 points. Another incident occurred between the two drivers on the final lap of the Austrian Grand Prix, resulting in Hamilton winning and Rosberg dropping to 4th; despite Hamilton being booed on the podium, an investigation by race stewards agreed with most commentators that Rosberg had caused the accident, and Rosberg was given a 10-second penalty for causing the accident and driving with a severely damaged car, although this did not affect the race result.^[38]

At his home Grand Prix, Rosberg performed an aggressive overtaking maneuver on Verstappen. Rosberg claimed "I was full lock on the steering wheel and I couldn't steer more", however the stewards disagreed, thought that Rosberg had broken the rules on overtaking, so gave Rosberg a 5-second time penalty^[39] and 2 driving license penalty points.^[40]

A second-place finish in the final race of the season at Abu Dhabi was sufficient to clinch the championship, despite his teammate (and eventual race winner) Lewis Hamilton backing the pair into the chasing pack in the closing stages of the race.^[41][42]

Rosberg is also the only driver to win the championship apart from Sebastian Vettel and Hamilton since 2010.^[43] He is only the second son of a former champion, after Damon Hill, to have won the title himself, and the first to have achieved this feat while his father is alive,^[44] and in a car bearing the same racing number as his father's car (6). He is also the first-ever German Formula One driver to win a title in a German team with a German engine.

Rosberg announced his immediate retirement from Formula One on 2 December at the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony in Vienna.^[45] The decision came after he reached the "pinnacle" of his career after winning the 2016 World Drivers' Championship.^[46] He was the first reigning champion to do so since Alain Prost in 1993.^[47]

Helmet design and number

For the 2014 season, a new rule allowed the driver to pick a unique car number to use throughout their entire F1 career. Rosberg picked number 6 and later tweeted "Cool. Got number 6 for my remaining F1 career! My future wife's and my dad's lucky number. So it has got to work for me too!".^[48] He also changed the colour of his helmet after 8 years from yellow to dark grey. The overall design included chrome, some Buddhist influence, clean lines and personal symbols, designed by Jens Munser.^[49][50]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2001	Formula BMW Junior Cup Iberia		3	0	0	0	0	38	18th
2002	Formula BMW ADAC	VIVA Racing	20	9	5	1	13	264	1st
2003	Formula 3 Euro Series	Team Rosberg	20	1	1	2	5	45	8th
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
	Macau Grand Prix	Carlin Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
	Korea Super Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	11th
2004	Formula 3 Euro Series	Team Rosberg	19	3	2	2	5	70	4th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	6th
	Bahrain Superprix		1	0	0	0	1	N/A	2nd
2005	GP2 Series	ART Grand Prix	23	5	4	5	12	120	1st
	Formula One	BMW Williams F1 Team	Test driver
2006	Formula One	WilliamsF1 Team	18	0	0	1	0	4	17th
2007	Formula One	AT&T Williams	17	0	0	0	0	20	9th
2008	Formula One	AT&T Williams	18	0	0	0	2	17	13th
2009	Formula One	AT&T Williams	17	0	0	1	0	34.5	7th
2010	Formula One	Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	19	0	0	0	3	142	7th
2011	Formula One	Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	19	0	0	0	0	89	7th
2012	Formula One	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	20	1	1	2	2	93	9th
2013	Formula One	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	19	2	3	0	4	171	6th
2014	Formula One	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	19	5	11	5	15	317	2nd
2015	Formula One	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	19	6	7	5	15	322	2nd
2016	Formula One	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	21	9	8	6	16	385	1st

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Points
2003	Team Rosberg	Dallara F303/005	Spiess-Opel	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 3	ADR 1 Ret	ADR 2 2	PAU 1 15	PAU 2 17	NOR 1 8	NOR 2 Ret	LMS 1 1	LMS 2 11	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 3	A1R 1 8	A1R 2 3	ZAN 1 18	ZAN 2 8	HOC 1 7	HOC 2 14	MAG 1 6	MAG 2 Ret	8th	45
2004	Team Rosberg	Dallara F303/006	Spiess-Opel	HOC 1 1	HOC 2 1	EST 1 Ret	EST 2 4	ADR 1 5	ADR 1 Ret	PAU 1 Ret	PAU 2 Ret	NOR 1 4	NOR 1 17	MAG 1 6	MAG 2 2	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 3	ZAN 1 Ret	ZAN 2 DNS	BRN 1 4	BRN 2 11	HOC 1 8	HOC 2 8	4th	70

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	DC	Points
2005	ART Grand Prix	IMO FEA 8	IMO SPR Ret	CAT FEA 9	CAT SPR 4	MON FEA 3	NÜR FEA 3	NÜR SPR 4	MAG FEA 7	MAG SPR 1	SIL FEA 1	SIL SPR 4	HOC FEA 1	HOC SPR 4	HUN FEA 5	HUN SPR 2	IST FEA 17	IST SPR 3	MNZ FEA 2	MNZ SPR 2	SPA FEA 3	SPA SPR 5	BHR FEA 1	BHR SPR 1	1st	120

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	WDC	Points
2006	WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW28	Cosworth CA2006 2.4 V8	BHR 7	MAL Ret	AUS Ret	SMR 11	EUR 7	ESP 11	MON Ret	GBR 9	CAN Ret	USA 9	FRA 14	GER Ret	HUN Ret	TUR Ret	ITA Ret	CHN 11	JPN 10	BRA Ret				17th	4
2007	AT&T Williams	Williams FW29	Toyota RVX-07 2.4 V8	AUS 7	MAL Ret	BHR 10	ESP 6	MON 12	CAN 10	USA 16^†	FRA 9	GBR 12	EUR Ret	HUN 7	TUR 7	ITA 6	BEL 6	JPN Ret	CHN 16	BRA 4					9th	20
2008	AT&T Williams	Williams FW30	Toyota RVX-08 2.4 V8	AUS 3	MAL 14	BHR 8	ESP Ret	TUR 8	MON Ret	CAN 10	FRA 16	GBR 9	GER 10	HUN 14	EUR 8	BEL 12	ITA 14	SIN 2	JPN 11	CHN 15	BRA 12				13th	17
2009	AT&T Williams	Williams FW31	Toyota RVX-09 2.4 V8	AUS 6	MAL 8^‡	CHN 15	BHR 9	ESP 8	MON 6	TUR 5	GBR 5	GER 4	HUN 4	EUR 5	BEL 8	ITA 16	SIN 11	JPN 5	BRA Ret	ABU 9					7th	34.5
2010	Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes MGP W01	Mercedes FO 108X 2.4 V8	BHR 5	AUS 5	MAL 3	CHN 3	ESP 13	MON 7	TUR 5	CAN 6	EUR 10	GBR 3	GER 8	HUN Ret	BEL 6	ITA 5	SIN 5	JPN 17^†	KOR Ret	BRA 6	ABU 4			7th	142
2011	Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes MGP W02	Mercedes FO 108Y 2.4 V8	AUS Ret	MAL 12	CHN 5	TUR 5	ESP 7	MON 11	CAN 11	EUR 7	GBR 6	GER 7	HUN 9	BEL 6	ITA Ret	SIN 7	JPN 10	KOR 8	IND 6	ABU 6	BRA 7			7th	89
2012	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes F1 W03	Mercedes FO 108Z 2.4 V8	AUS 12	MAL 13	CHN 1	BHR 5	ESP 7	MON 2	CAN 6	EUR 6	GBR 15	GER 10	HUN 10	BEL 11	ITA 7	SIN 5	JPN Ret	KOR Ret	IND 11	ABU Ret	USA 13	BRA 15		9th	93
2013	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes F1 W04	Mercedes FO 108F 2.4 V8	AUS Ret	MAL 4	CHN Ret	BHR 9	ESP 6	MON 1	CAN 5	GBR 1	GER 9	HUN 19^†	BEL 4	ITA 6	SIN 4	KOR 7	JPN 8	IND 2	ABU 3	USA 9	BRA 5			6th	171
2014	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes F1 W05 Hybrid	Mercedes PU106A Hybrid 1.6 V6 t	AUS 1	MAL 2	BHR 2	CHN 2	ESP 2	MON 1	CAN 2	AUT 1	GBR Ret	GER 1	HUN 4	BEL 2	ITA 2	SIN Ret	JPN 2	RUS 2	USA 2	BRA 1	ABU 14			2nd	317
2015	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid	Mercedes PU106B Hybrid 1.6 V6 t	AUS 2	MAL 3	CHN 2	BHR 3	ESP 1	MON 1	CAN 2	AUT 1	GBR 2	HUN 8	BEL 2	ITA 17^†	SIN 4	JPN 2	RUS Ret	USA 2	MEX 1	BRA 1	ABU 1			2nd	322
2016	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid	Mercedes PU106C Hybrid 1.6 V6 t	AUS 1	BHR 1	CHN 1	RUS 1	ESP Ret	MON 7	CAN 5	EUR 1	AUT 4	GBR 3	HUN 2	GER 4	BEL 1	ITA 1	SIN 1	MAL 3	JPN 1	USA 2	MEX 2	BRA 2	ABU 2	1st	385

^† Driver failed to finish the race, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.
^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance completed.

Records and achievements

• 2016 Formula One World Champion
• 23 Formula One wins
• 30 Formula One pole positions
• Lorenzo Bandini Trophy in 2011
• 2014 FIA Pole Trophy
• 2016 DHL Fastest Lap Award
• Set the fastest lap in his first ever Grand Prix (2006 Bahrain Grand Prix)

References

1. Benson, Andrew (23 May 2014). "Nico Rosberg at Mercedes: German signs new two-year deal". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
2. Shedding a father's shadow: the new GP2 champion's route to the top 5th chapter
3. "Nico Rosberg is finding his German identity as he pressures Hamilton". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2016. And he can tell jokes in five languages – none of them Finnish. He speaks German, English, French, Italian and (a little less fluently) Spanish.
4. Nico Rosberg is finding his German identity as he pressures Hamilton , theguardian.com, 4 July 2014
5. "Rosberg: "Die Finnen sind sauer, weil Nico deutsch ist"" [(Keke) Rosberg: "The Finns are angry because Nico is German"]. motorsport-total.com (in German). 2 December 2005. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
6. FIA International Sporting Code paragraph 112
7. "Nico Rosberg gets married". Motorsport.com. Motorsport.com, Inc. 11 July 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
8. "Nico Rosberg papa : Sa belle Vivian a donné naissance à une petite fille". purepeople.com.
9. "Championship / Drivers / Nico Rosberg". formula1.com. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
10. Cooper, Adam (30 April 2012). "A New Contender". Autoweek. 62 (9): 72–74.
11. http://xserve2.com/ns/ns12402.html – GrandPrix.com – "The fourth driver at Williams"
12. McRae, Donald (7 March 2006). "New kid on the grid follows his father's formula". TheGuardian.com. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
13. "The Talented Mr. Rosberg" Autosport.com. Retrieved 26 September 2006
14. "Williams Admits Humiliating Season" Yahoo!. Retrieved 26 September 2006
15. "Nico Rosberg and McLaren" grandprix.com. Retrieved 27 September 2016
16. "First impressions – Williams is quick". GrandPrix.com. 7 February 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2007.
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20. http://www.brawngp.com/readstory.asp?bgp=j%C1%AA%C0rZ%7D%5F
21. "Schumacher to be number 3 at Mercedes". SportNetwork.net. Durham Associates Group. 20 January 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
22. "Mercedes 'optimistic again' about pace". Yahoo! Eurosport. TF1 Group. 17 April 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
23. Roebuck, Nigel (28 August 2011). "2011 Belgian Grand Prix report". Motor Sport Magazine. Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
24. "The 2011 Season Review – Part Two". formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 5 December 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
25. "Rosberg not afraid of Schumacher resurgence". ESPN. 15 February 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
26. Noble, Jonathan (19 April 2011). "DRS hailed as 'best idea ever'". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
27. Benson, Andrew (14 April 2012). "Nico Rosberg takes landmark first pole in China for Mercedes". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
28. "Race – Rosberg an F1 winner after Shanghai thriller". formula1.com. 15 April 2012. Archived from the original on 12 July 2014.
29. "Rosberg sidelined by electrical problem". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 17 March 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
30. "Malaysia: selected team and driver quotes". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 24 March 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
31. "Race results – Rosberg claims thrilling Silverstone victory". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 30 June 2013. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
32. "Ricciardo referred to stewards over fuel flow". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 16 March 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
33. "FIA Stewards Decision — Document No. 33" (PDF). FIA. 24 May 2014. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
34. Johnson, Daniel (27 July 2014). "Lewis Hamilton beats Nico Rosberg to third at Hungarian GP in thrilling battle as Daniel Ricciardo claims victory". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
35. "Nico Rosberg Q&A: Lewis did a better job than me". formula1.com. 23 November 2014.
36. "Lewis Hamilton: Nico Rosberg throws cap at teammate after he wins F1 Drivers' Championship – Metro News". Metro.
37. "BBC Sport – US Grand Prix: Nico Rosberg throws cap at Lewis Hamilton". BBC Sport.
38. Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer. "Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg blame each other as Rosberg is penalised". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
39. http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/10517631/watch-nico-rosberg-and-max-verstappen-do-battle
40. Barretto, Lawrence; Beer, Matt. "German GP: Red Bull's Verstappen thought he and Rosberg would crash".
41. Benson, Andrew (27 November 2016). "Nico Rosberg wins F1 title as Lewis Hamilton wins in Abu Dhabi and thus being the first german driver to win a championship driving a german car.". Retrieved 28 November 2016.
42. "Rosberg wins F1 title as Hamilton wins in Abu Dhabi GP". Newskarnataka. 28 November 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
43. "Hamilton's heartache as Rosberg wins Formula One title". Sky News. 27 November 2016.
44. Brown, Oliver (28 November 2016). "F1 world champion Nico Rosberg's party goes with a swing after dad Keke races in to Abu Dhabi". Telegraph. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
45. "Nico Rosberg retires: World champion quits Formula 1". BBC. 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
46. Morlidge, Matt (2 December 2016). "Nico Rosberg quits F1". SkySports.com.
47. "Nico Rosberg retires: World champion quits Formula 1 five days after title win". BBC Sport. 2 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
48. "Top news stories from the Philippines and around the world – MSN News Philippines". msn.com.
49. Reyer, Maria (20 March 2014). "Rosberg: Wenn der Helm zum Kunstwerk wird". motorsport-total.com (in German). Archived from the original on 31 October 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
50. Seiwert, Robert (31 January 2014). "Mercedes: Rosberg-Verlobte löst Helm-Problem – Back in black". motorsport-magazin.com (in German). Retrieved 31 October 2015.

External links

• Official website
• Profile – from Mercedes GP official website
• Profile and statistics
• Racing career
• Nico Rosberg at the Internet Movie Database