137 Facts About Nico Rosberg

Nico Erik Rosberg was born on 27 June 1985 and is a German and Finnish former racing driver and entrepreneur, who competed under the German flag in Formula One from 2006 to 2016.

The only child of Finnish 1982 Formula One World Champion Keke Nico Rosberg and his German wife, he was born in Wiesbaden but was raised primarily in Monaco.

Nico Rosberg began competitive kart racing at the age of six and achieved early success, winning regional and national French championships, before moving to European-based series and world championships.

Nico Rosberg subsequently moved to the higher-tier Formula 3 Euro Series with Team Rosberg in 2003 and 2004 before winning the inaugural GP2 Series championship with ART Grand Prix in 2005.

Nico Rosberg first drove in Formula One with Williams from 2006 to 2009 and achieved two podium finishes for the team in 2008.

Nico Rosberg took his first career win at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg was the teammate of former karting friend, Lewis Hamilton, from 2013 to 2016, twice finishing runner-up to his teammate, and in his final season defeating Hamilton to win the 2016 title.

Nico Rosberg announced his retirement from motor racing five days after clinching the title, citing wanting to spend more time with his family and not wanting his driving ability to atrophy as the main factors behind his decision.

In retirement, Nico Rosberg moved into driver management, television punditry, and became an eco-entrepreneur.

Nico Rosberg was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year and was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame in 2017.

Nico Rosberg was born on 27 June 1985 at the Red Cross Hospital in Wiesbaden, West Germany, the only child of German interpreter Gesine "Sina" and Finnish racing driver Keke Nico Rosberg, who won the 1982 Formula One World Championship.

Nico Rosberg switched to a German license as he felt it was easier to obtain major sponsorship agreements with nationality of a larger country.

Nico Rosberg was raised in the Wiesbaden district of Nordenstadt in the first four weeks of his life, before living between the principality of Monaco and the Spanish island of Ibiza.

Nico Rosberg was educated at the International School of Nice and the International School of Monaco.

Nico Rosberg was encouraged to pursue ventures in academia and sports.

Nico Rosberg was taught five languages: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, but not Finnish or Swedish, as his father considered those other languages more important for Nico's life and career.

Nico Rosberg enjoyed studying mathematics and science, and passed all of his examinations except history.

Nico Rosberg graduated with an average grade of 1.2 in 2002.

Nico Rosberg married interior designer Vivian Sibold at a civil ceremony in Monaco on 11 July 2014.

Nico Rosberg is a fan of the German football club FC Bayern Munich, played for the Monaco national tennis team, and formerly competed in triathlon events; these skills allowed him to save a five-year-old child from drowning in Monaco.

At the age of four, Nico Rosberg had his first driving experience when his father took him to a go-kart track in Ibiza for a holiday.

Nico Rosberg steered a Jeep, and his father controlled its speed with the accelerator and the brake pedals.

Nico Rosberg began competitive racing at the age of six and decided to aim for a career in Formula One motor racing after he observed his father competing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft in 1995.

In 1996, Nico Rosberg won the Cote d'Azur Mini-Kart Regional Championship, and the Trophee Jerome Bernard and the Trophee de France in 1997.

Nico Rosberg finished second in the French Manufacturers' Trophy and the Cote d'Azur Regional Championship in the same year.

Nico Rosberg progressed to the European karting championships for 1998 after moving from France to Italy so he could enter international events.

Nico Rosberg's father asked CRG executive Dino Chiesa in late 1999 to establish a separate karting team for his son and fellow driver Lewis Hamilton for a period of two to three years.

Nico Rosberg was runner-up in the European KF1 Championship and finished ninth in the Formula A World Cup.

In 2001, Nico Rosberg was tenth in the South Garda Winter Cup and sixteenth in the Formula Super A World Championship.

Nico Rosberg concluded his karting career with a third-place finish in the latter series at a race in Kerpen.

At the age of 16, Nico Rosberg progressed to car racing, competing in three races for the 2001 Formula BMW Junior Cup Iberia finishing in 18th in the Drivers' Championship with 38 points.

Nico Rosberg was second in the Rookie Cup to Christian Klien.

In November 2003, Nico Rosberg was given a test in a Formula 3000 car at the Circuito de Jerez by Paolo Coloni, the team owner of Scuderia Coloni, as preparation for future F1 testing with Williams.

Nico Rosberg tested twice more for Williams in a modified FW25A car at the Circuit de Catalunya in December and January 2004 for them to evaluate his ability as a test driver.

Nico Rosberg remained with Team Rosberg for the 2004 Formula 3 Euro Series.

Nico Rosberg won the season's first two races at the Hockenheimring and his campaign faltered through incidents and accidents: he took one other victory at the Nurburgring and three podium finishes.

Nico Rosberg finished fourth in the Drivers' Championship with 70 points and was sixth at the Masters of Formula 3.

Nico Rosberg chose not to further his education so as to be able to commit to his racing career; the university would have allowed him to combine the course with his racing.

Nico Rosberg achieved his first series victory in the sprint race at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours and won the feature races at Silverstone Circuit and the Hockenheimring from pole position.

Nico Rosberg took the Drivers' Championship lead with a third-place finish in the feature race at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps when previous leader Heikki Kovalainen took eighth.

Nico Rosberg maintained the points lead during the season-ending Bahrain International Circuit round, winning both races to claim the first GP2 Series title with 120 points.

Nico Rosberg worked with Williams's test and reserve driver Antonio Pizzonia and continued to focus on the GP2 Series.

Autosport reported Nico Rosberg signed a contract that month to race for Williams in 2006 allowing the team to provide him with as much car acclimatisation as possible.

Nico Rosberg was told of the news by his father in advance.

At the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg scored his first career points with a seventh-place finish and set the race's fastest lap, becoming at the time the youngest fastest lap setter in history, aged 20 years, 8 months and 13 days.

Nico Rosberg scored points once more during the season with a seventh at the European Grand Prix as he made driver errors from inexperience and drove an unreliable car.

Nico Rosberg was outpaced by his teammate Mark Webber, with whom he had a good relationship.

Nico Rosberg finished with 4 points for 17th in the World Drivers' Championship.

For 2007, Nico Rosberg was partnered by the more experienced Alexander Wurz.

Nico Rosberg's performances improved greatly from 2006 due to Williams restructuring itself and employing more experienced and capable personnel, making his FW29 car reliable and more efficient with the installation of a less complex seamless transmission.

Nico Rosberg had more confidence in setting up the car to his liking, extracting additional speed and balance consistently.

Nico Rosberg gained experience in controlling his emotions without losing speed, frequently qualified ahead of Wurz and took points seven times with a season-best of fourth at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.

McLaren offered Frank Williams "majestic proportions" to sign Nico Rosberg to replace the outgoing two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, but Williams immediately rejected the offer.

Nico Rosberg's contract was extended to the end of 2009 on the basis of where Williams finished in the Constructors' Championship.

Nico Rosberg later told Williams of his desire to remain with them on the condition he would receive a competitive car.

The 2008 season was the first in which Nico Rosberg was the more experienced driver on his team, being partnered by Williams test driver Kazuki Nakajima.

Nico Rosberg began the season by finishing third at the Australian Grand Prix, the first podium finish of his career.

Nico Rosberg was occasionally outperformed by Nakajima, and driver errors lost him chances to score more points; he was able to adapt to a ban on traction control from Formula One.

Nico Rosberg improved the best result of his career with a second at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix 14 races later, and finished 13th in the WDC with 17 points.

Nico Rosberg was again partnered with Nakajima for the 2009 season.

Nico Rosberg had an improved season: the Williams FW31 was one of three cars to have an early speed advantage because it featured a double diffuser system and Nico Rosberg led the first 15 laps of the Malaysian Grand Prix the team could not sustain the car's pace of development.

Nico Rosberg finished 16 of 17 rounds; the exception was the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg was consistent in finishing in the points-paying positions, achieving a season-best result of fourth at the German Grand Prix and the following Hungarian Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg scored 34.5 points for seventh in the WDC.

Nico Rosberg talked to McLaren and Williams about potential employment; he was skeptical because Williams was mulling over whether Renault or Cosworth should be the team's engine supplier.

One week later Mercedes purchased 75 percent of Brawn GP and entered Formula One under its own name, employing Nico Rosberg to drive for the team.

Nico Rosberg was partnered with the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher and was assigned car No 4 after Schumacher requested No 3 for superstitious reasons.

Nico Rosberg was mentored by Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn and was apprehensive when Schumacher joined the team, given the history of Brawn and Schumacher's relationship at Ferrari.

Nico Rosberg was concerned that Schumacher would dominate the team, and in early strategy meetings, found that his own strategy was being discussed with Schumacher more than with him.

Nico Rosberg felt that Schumacher was constantly acting to cause him minor stress or to assert dominance.

Nico Rosberg finished in third place at the Malaysian Grand Prix, the Chinese Grand Prix, and the British Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg scored championship points in all but four rounds; he generally finished higher than he qualified and did so against his teammate Schumacher fifteen times to four that season.

Nico Rosberg was better able than Schumacher to cope with a terminal understeer affecting the MGP W01's handling due to Mercedes forgoing much development work on the car because of Brawn GP's title focus the previous year.

Nico Rosberg remained with Mercedes for 2011 and was again joined by Schumacher.

Nico Rosberg had a mixed season: he led the Chinese Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix, but the MGP W02 wore the Pirelli tyres quickly, making the car noncompetitive.

Nico Rosberg was able to maintain a consistent performance in every qualifying session and began higher than his teammate Schumacher sixteen times to three.

Nico Rosberg finished no higher than fifth in the season's 19 rounds and was seventh in the WDC with 89 points.

The press linked Nico Rosberg to replace the poor performing Felipe Massa at Ferrari for 2012.

An important factor in Nico Rosberg's decision was the Mercedes team undergoing a technical restructure, which saw the appointments of Bob Bell as technical director and Geoff Willis as head of technology in mid-2011.

Nico Rosberg then challenged Red Bull's Mark Webber for the victory at the Monaco Grand Prix three races later before he settled for a second-place finish.

Nico Rosberg had accumulated more championship points than any other driver in the season's previous four races and emerged as an unlikely contender for the WDC.

Nico Rosberg was granted equal status by Mercedes and received no preferential treatment alongside Hamilton.

Nico Rosberg challenged his teammate Hamilton during the season qualifying higher eight times and finishing more often.

Unhappy with the decision, Nico Rosberg led every lap from pole position to win the Monaco Grand Prix and became the first son of a world champion to win the event.

Nico Rosberg then won the British Grand Prix for his third career victory after Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel suffered a broken gearbox.

Nico Rosberg finished sixth in the WDC with 171 points and three pole positions.

Nico Rosberg continued to drive for Mercedes in 2014 with Lewis Hamilton again as his teammate.

Nico Rosberg was regarded as a favourite for the WDC because of the team's development of the F1 W05 Hybrid car and adaptation to the technical regulations mandating the use of turbo-hybrid engines in pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Nico Rosberg won the Australian Grand Prix to take the lead of the WDC and finished second in the next four races but Hamilton's four straight victories lost Nico Rosberg the championship lead.

Nico Rosberg won the Monaco Grand Prix for the second year in succession to regain the points lead after qualifying on pole position in contentious circumstances.

Nico Rosberg took four consecutive podium finishes and won the Brazilian Grand Prix to ensure the championship would be decided at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg eschewed Facebook for five months, studied philosophy, meditated to stay concentrated, and received detailed technical input from Mercedes's mechanics at its headquarters in Brackley, England.

Nico Rosberg worked with his sports psychologist for up to eight hours per week with two hours of mental discipline every two days.

Nico Rosberg said he was confident of driving a competitive car and wanted to maintain his form by beating Hamilton more regularly.

Nico Rosberg carried over his form from the 2015 season, winning the first four races to lead Hamilton by 43 championship points although Hamilton suffered reliability issues in two of those first four races.

Nico Rosberg changed his diet to remove sugars from his body and abstained from alcohol.

Nico Rosberg went on to win in Belgium, Singapore and Japan, and achieved three-second-place finishes in a row to enter the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix leading Hamilton by 12 points.

Nico Rosberg won the WDC by five points with a second-place finish after withstanding Hamilton's attempts to back him into the chasing pack and encourage drivers to pass Rosberg to claim the title for himself.

Nico Rosberg became the second son of a former world champion to win the title since Damon Hill replicated his father Graham Hill in 1996.

Nico Rosberg published a limited-edition book entitled Finally about the 2016 season on 24 December 2016.

Nico Rosberg, who had signed a two-year contract extension with Mercedes to 2018 in mid-2016, began to contemplate retirement from motor racing when he considered the possibility of a championship win after the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg discussed it twice with his wife Vivian before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and decided to commit to retiring before the race commenced.

Nico Rosberg did not tell Wolff in person because he was apprehensive about Wolff's reaction.

Nico Rosberg said he had reached the "pinnacle" of his career; he did not want his driving skills to atrophy, and wished to spend more time with his young family.

Nico Rosberg was the first reigning champion to retire from Formula One since Alain Prost in 1993.

Nico Rosberg used his celebrity status to advance the industry, beginning with a fact-finding visit to Silicon Valley, where he tested and observed the construction of electric and self-driving vehicles.

Nico Rosberg became a long-term investor and shareholder in Formula E in early 2018.

Nico Rosberg had the idea to launch the annual Greentech Festival trade fair, which he did with the entrepreneurs Sven Kruger and Marco Voigt in February 2019 to showcase sustainable technologies from around the world in Berlin.

Nico Rosberg replaced Frank Thelen as an investor on the German television programme Die Hohle der Lowen in late 2019.

In 2022, Nico Rosberg launched the non-profit organisation Nico Rosberg Philanthropies that focuses on environmental protection and supporting children.

In October 2017, Nico Rosberg joined Team Nico Rosberg as an adviser for its ADAC GT Masters sports car championship team in 2018.

Nico Rosberg assisted in Kubica's desire to return to Formula One after a severe 2011 rally accident left the latter with partial movement in his right arm.

Nico Rosberg reduced his involvement with Kubica in April 2018 to focus on his business career.

Since the 2018 season, Nico Rosberg has analysed select Formula One races for Sky Sports F1 in the United Kingdom, RTL in Germany, and Sky Italia in Italy.

Nico Rosberg impressed viewers for conveying digestible information to them.

That same year, Nico Rosberg co-founded the Nico Rosberg Young Drivers Academy with karting mentor Dino Chiesa to scout and support young go-kart drivers.

In late 2020, he established Nico Rosberg X Racing formed on parts of the structure of his father's DTM team to compete in the all-electric SUV off-road racing series Extreme E from the 2021 season on.

Nico Rosberg entered the series because of its promised racing action and wanted to help combat some of climate change's effects collectively.

In December 2024, Nico Rosberg announced that RXR would cease operations in Extreme E as the racing series will be replaced as Extreme H for 2025.

Nico Rosberg has a YouTube vlogging channel, and hosts the podcast "Beyond Victory" in which he discusses human performance and development with his guests.

Nico Rosberg prefers to be challenged for structuring, and is an avid reader of books that further his knowledge.

When Nico Rosberg was Michael Schumacher's teammate at Mercedes, he was highly cautious about what he said to the off-track press, fearing that they could misinterpret his words.

Nico Rosberg had a scientific and technical driving style; he sought to fine-tune his car in specific detail and adapted his driving ability around the changes, especially over a single lap.

Nico Rosberg shared his father's preference of oversteer over understeer and lacked a flamboyant driving technique.

Nico Rosberg occasionally used more of the circuit, using his car's ride over a bumpy track to ask the car to take as much as possible.

Nico Rosberg was sometimes unable to cope with the stress of extra complications, causing him to overdrive in the process, but was adept at managing technical issues on his car.

Nico Rosberg selected number six because it was his wife and father's lucky number.

Nico Rosberg changed the colour of his helmet after eight years from yellow to dark grey.

Nico Rosberg signed numerous endorsement contracts; some of the companies with which he has done business are the watchmakers Rolex, International Watch Company and Oris, the tyre maker Continental Tire, the luxury fashion house Hugo Boss, the toy car company Hot Wheels, the railway company Deutsche Bahn, the media broadcasters Sky Sports and RTL, energy company EnBW and logistics provider Jungheinrich.

Nico Rosberg is an ambassador for Mercedes-Benz, Laureus, the investment bank UBS, the Tribute to Bambi Foundation, and the electric car manufacturer Schaeffler Group.

Nico Rosberg is part of the alcohol brewing company Heineken's anti-drink-drive campaign, including appearing with his father in an advertisement for zero-alcohol beer in 2020.

In 2012, Nico Rosberg teamed with the children's aid organisation Ein Herz fur Kinder and has raised capital for the charity through various events.

Nico Rosberg has worked for the Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli charity, which supplies water and basic sanitation to individuals in developing countries.

Nico Rosberg invested money into projects involving reforestation in Germany and the promotion of South American sustainable agro-forestry.

On 5 June 2011 Nico Rosberg received the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy, which honours a recipient "for their dedication to motor racing, spirit of competition and achievements".

Nico Rosberg won the DHL Fastest Lap Award because he recorded seven fastest laps, more than any other driver during the 2016 season.

Nico Rosberg was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame in December 2017.