Next Previous Enlarge 1 / 7 L-R: Team MBM team mates Nico Rosberg (GER) and Lewis Hamilton (GBR). World Karting Championships, Mariembourg, Belgium, 22-23 September 2001. © Sutton Motorsport Images 2002 champion Nico Rosberg (FIN), VIVA Racing, took the race win. Formula BWM ADAC Championship, Rd10, Hockenheim, Germany. 05-06 October 2002. ©Sutton Motorsport Images . Race winner Nico Rosberg (FIN) celebrates his victory. BMW Formula ADAC Race 2, Nurburgring , Germany, 23 June 2002. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Carlin Motorsport. 50th Formula 3 Grand Prix, Circuito de Guia, Macau, November 2003. © Sutton Motorsport Images L to R: Keke Rosberg (FIN) and Nico Rosberg (FIN) Williams BMW. Formula One Testing, Jerez, Spain, 2-5 December 2003. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Team Rosberg. Bahrain F3 Superprix, Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain, 6-10 December 2004. © Sutton Motorsport Images Keke Rosberg (FIN) with his son, Nico Rosberg (GER) ART. GP2, Rd 1, Imola, Italy, 22 April 2005. © Sutton Motorsport Images Info Close

Official Nico Rosberg memorabilia > Nico Erik Rosberg was born on June 27, 1985, in Wiesbaden, Germany, three years after his Finnish father Keke Rosberg won the World Championship. Since his mother Sina was German Nico was entitled to dual citizenship, though he could also be classified as Monegasque because the family resided in the Principality. Growing up in the environment where his dad had won the 1983 race through Monaco’s storied streets gave little Nico big ideas. He was just six years old when his first experiences in a kart inspired his dream of becoming a World Champion, like his dad. Keke and Sina did not discourage this career choice, perhaps believing he would grow out of it. Parental consent came with the proviso that their son must not neglect his education. A diligent student, Nico was quick to learn and precociously clever. He became a linguistic virtuoso, impressively articulate in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish.



Nico began championship kart racing (using a Finnish passport) when he was ten, bringing with him a competitive mindset that made him cry when his father beat him at tennis. Early success in karts deepened Nico’s resolve to push himself further and convinced his father to help him. Keke became his manager, using his extensive network of connections to good advantage. He knew what he was doing, having shrewdly managed the career of double world champion Mika Hakkinen, who was Nico’s boyhood hero. Nico progressed rapidly into karting’s top ranks, where one of his main opponents was Lewis Hamilton. In 2000 the teenage prodigies became team mates in the fiercely competitive Formula A karting championship. While the more naturally talented Hamilton tended to beat the hard-trying Rosberg, their rivalry remained friendly. Their shared passion to climb the motorsport ladder made them kindred spirits. They engaged in youthful hijinks, tossing a mattress out the window of their hotel room, staging impromptu foot races down the corridors, gorging themselves in pizza speed-eating contests.

Next Previous Enlarge 1 / 7 Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams FW28. Formula One World Championship, Rd 1, Bahrain Grand Prix, Qualifying Day, Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain, 11 March 2006. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams FW28. Formula One World Championship, Rd 10, United States Grand Prix, Qualifying Day, Indianapolis, USA, 1 July 2006. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams FW28. Formula One World Championship, Rd 2, Malaysian Grand Prix, Qualifying Day, Sepang, Malaysia, 18 March 2006. © Sutton Motorsport Images Frank Williams (GBR) Williams Team Owner and Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams. Formula One World Championship, Rd16, Chinese Grand Prix, Race Day, Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, China, Sunday 7 October 2007. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams celebrates his first podium finish. Australian Grand Prix, Rd 1, Race, Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia, Sunday 16 March 2008. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams on the podium. Formula One World Championship, Rd 15, Singapore Grand Prix, Race, Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore, Sunday 28 September 2008. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams FW31. Formula One World Championship, Rd 6, Monaco Grand Prix, Race, Monte-Carlo, Monaco, Sunday 24 May 2009. © © Sutton Motorsport Images Info Close

In 2002 their career paths diverged, with Hamilton remaining in karts and Rosberg moving up to single-seaters. In the Formula BMW ADAC series the 17-year-old Rosberg (now racing with a German passport) won the championship and earned himself a F1 test drive with Williams, the team with which Keke won the driving title. Strengthening the family connection, Nico then joined his father’s Team Rosberg to race in the F3 Euroseries, where in two seasons he had four wins. In 2005 Nico entered the new GP2 category with the ART Team. With five wins he became the first GP2 champion, while also serving as a test driver for Williams.



His continuing scholastic achievements served him well. He turned down a coveted place to study aeronautical engineering at Imperial College in London. After scoring the highest-ever marks in the Williams F1 Team’s engineering aptitude test he was signed to race in the 2006 F1 season.



In his three years with Williams his best was the first. In his F1 debut at Bahrain, he set the fastest lap and finished seventh, behind his team mate Mark Webber. It was Webber who nicknamed the youngster with the blonde flowing locks ‘Britney’, after the American pop music star Britney Spears. Indeed there was a beautiful blonde in Nico’s private life: Vivian Sibold, a German-born girl whom he first met when they were children. A romance blossomed and in 2003 they became inseparable companions.

In 2010 Nico joined Mercedes GP (the rebranded championship- winning Brawn F1 team) where he was paired with the seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, then in the twilight of his career. In their three season’s together Rosberg, who mostly out-qualified and outscored him, learned a great deal from the sport’s most successful driver. In 2012 Rosberg scored his first F1 victory, winning from pole in China.



In 2013, with 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton as his Mercedes team mate, Rosberg won twice, including Monaco (exactly 30 years after Keke won there), though he was outscored during the season by Hamilton, who finished fourth to Rosberg’s sixth overall in the standings. In 2014 Rosberg upped his game, winning five races and scoring regularly to the point that he was still in contention to beat Hamilton to the title in the final race at Abu Dhabi. But Rosberg’s car lost power and Hamilton won the race and the championship. Nonetheless Rosberg’s private life had improved immeasurably. In July of 2014 Nico Rosberg and Vivian Sibold were married in a civil ceremony in Monaco.



Next Previous Enlarge 1 / 8 Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes GP and Michael Schumacher (GER) Mercedes GP. Mercedes Launch, Stuttgart, Germany, Monday 25 January 2010. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes GP MGP W02. Formula One World Championship, Rd 12, Belgian Grand Prix, Race, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, Sunday 28 August 2011. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes GP MGP W01 makes a pit stop and loses his rear wheel. Formula One World Championship, Rd 12, Hungarian Grand Prix, Race, Budapest, Hungary, Sunday 1 August 2010. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes GP celebrates his third position in parc ferme. Formula One World Championship, Rd 3, Malaysian Grand Prix, Race, Sepang, Malaysia, Sunday 4 April 2010. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes GP. Formula One World Championship, Rd 11, Hungarian Grand Prix, Qualifying Day, Budapest, Hungary, Saturday 30 July 2011. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes GP MGP W02. Formula One World Championship, Rd 11, Hungarian Grand Prix, Practice Day, Budapest, Hungary, Friday 29 July 2011. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 W03 crosses the line to win the race. Formula One World Championship, Rd3, Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai, China, Sunday 15 April 2012. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1, celebrates his maiden with Ross Brawn (GBR) Mercedesamg F1 Team Principal and the Mercedes Team. Formula One World Championship, Rd3, Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai, China, Sunday 15 April 2012. © Sutton Motorsport Images Info Close

With their 2015 Mercedes cars by far the class of the field, the team’s policy of giving them equal opportunity placed maximum pressure on the drivers, whose once friendly rivalry deteriorated into an all-out psychological struggle for supremacy. Hamilton eventually became champion for the third time (with 10 victories to Rosberg’s five - one of which was a third successive triumph in his home race, Monaco). A pivotal point for Rosberg took place in the United States Grand Prix, where his anger at making a driving error that handed the win to Hamilton, provoked the notorious ‘Capgate’ incident. Prior to the podium ceremony Hamilton playfully tossed a sponsor’s cap at Rosberg, who threw it back at him in a fury. Rosberg later admitted he spent two days brooding over this “disastrous” race loss. Vowing to avoid such a “huge disappointment” in future, he hired a mind management specialist, practiced meditation and sharpened his driving skills through endless private testing in a kart. He went on to win the last three races of 2015. However the most important event in his life to date took place that summer when Vivian Rosberg gave birth to their daughter, Alaia. Her proud father spoke movingly of the blessed event. “We are totally overwhelmed and completely in love”. Filled with renewed resolve, the relentlessly resilient Rosberg applied all his cerebral attention to detail toward achieving his championship goal in 2016 - the longest ever Formula One season. He began the 21-race endurance contest with four successive victories. In the fifth event, in Spain, the two title rivals collided on the first lap and went no further. Thereafter they traded race wins (ultimately 10 to 9 for Hamilton), were penalised for rule infractions (four for Rosberg) and suffered mechanical misfortune (five for Hamilton). While Rosberg led the standings for most of the season Hamilton’s victories in the final four races reduced Rosberg’s lead to just five points at the finish, a dramatic, tension-filled event at Abu Dhabi.



At 31, Nico Rosberg’s childhood dream had come true. The 25-year effort had taken a heavy toll. Famously guarded about revealing his inner feelings, the new champion now described the depths of emotion he felt, especially in the final laps at Abu Dhabi when race leader Hamilton (defying team instructions to speed up) deliberately slowed down to back Rosberg into the chasing pack where he might encounter trouble. Rosberg: “The feelings in those last laps were just unreal. Crazy! Not enjoyable. Massive pressure! Unbelievably intense! Horrible! The smallest mistake would finish me. So difficult. The first bit of emotion was relief. I was crying my eyes out at the finish.”



Joining him in tearful post-race celebration were his number-one fans: his wife and his parents. The euphoria was contagious, shared by his team, F1 insiders and an increasing number of supporters. He was applauded for the historic accomplishment of making the Rosbergs only the second father-son champions (after Graham and Damon Hill). Some detractors felt he had backed into the title because Hamilton had more mechanical problems. In truth the new world champion won the same way as his 32 predecessors: by scoring the most points.

Next Previous Enlarge 1 / 12 Race winner Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates on the podium. Formula One World Championship, Rd6, Monaco Grand Prix, Race Day, Monte-Carlo, Monaco, Sunday 26 May 2013. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 W05 locks up inside Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 W05 at the start of the race. Formula One World Championship, Rd16, Russian Grand Prix, Race, Sochi Autodrom, Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia, Sunday 12 October 2014. BEST IMAGE © Sutton Motorsport Images Race winner Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates in parc ferme. Formula One World Championship, Rd8, Austrian Grand Prix, Race, Spielberg, Austria, Sunday 22 June 2014. © Sutton Motorsport Images Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 W05 and Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 W05 battle. Formula One World Championship, Rd3, Bahrain Grand Prix, Race, Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain, Sunday 6 April 2014. © Sutton Motorsport Images Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1, Toto Wolff (AUT) Mercedes AMG F1 Director of Motorsport and Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1. 2014 FIA Gala Awards, Doha, Qatar, 5 December 2014. © FIA Editorial Copyright Free Race winner Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates in parc ferme at Formula One World Championship, Rd19, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Race, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Sunday 29 November 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 W06 and Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 W06 at the start of the race at Formula One World Championship, Rd8, Austrian Grand Prix, Race, Spielberg, Austria, Sunday 21 June 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images The crashed car of Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes-Benz F1 W07 Hybrid is recovered at Formula One World Championship, Rd5, Spanish Grand Prix, Race, Barcelona, Spain, Sunday 15 May 2016. © Sutton Motorsport Images Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes-Benz F1 W07 Hybrid and Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes-Benz F1 W07 Hybrid collide on the last lap at Formula One World Championship, Rd9, Austrian Grand Prix, Race, Spielberg, Austria, Sunday 3 July 2016. © Sutton Images Sebastian Vettel (GER) Ferrari, race winner Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 and Daniil Kvyat (RUS) Red Bull Racing celebrate on the podium at Formula One World Championship, Rd3, Chinese Grand Prix, Race, Shanghai, China, Sunday 17 April 2016. © Sutton Images New World Champion Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 celebrates by performing donuts on the track at Formula One World Championship, Rd21, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Race, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Sunday 27 November 2016. © Sutton Images World Champion Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes AMG F1 and wife Vivian Rosberg (GER) celebrate at Formula One World Championship, Rd21, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Race, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Sunday 27 November 2016. © Sutton Images Info Close