Nico Rosberg

Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985 in Wiesbaden, Hesse, West Germany) is a German-Finnish racing driver, who became the inaugural FIA GP2 Series Champion when he claimed the 2005 title. The son of 1982 Formula One World Champion Keke Rosberg, Rosberg would go on to race in Formula One himself, and would end his racing career in 2016 having won his own F1 World Championship crown.

Partnering Alexandre Prémat, Rosberg would have a relatively quiet start to his only GP2 campaign, not emerging as a title pretender until his first victory at Magny-Cours. From then on, however, Rosberg would steadily rise up the order, before clinching the title with victory at the Bahrain Finale.

Background
Rosberg's career began in karting at the age of six, with the German born youth winning multiple national and regional honours, as well as forming a friendship with future F1 rival Lewis Hamilton. At the age of sixteen Rosberg would graduate to racing cars, entering the Formula BMW ADAC series, with a dominant rookie season seeing him claim the title with nine victories. For 2003 Rosberg moved into the new-for-2003 Formula 3 Euro Series, while also changing his racing licence from Finnish to German.

Familial F3
Rosberg joined his father Keke Rosberg's F3 team, Team Rosberg, for the inaugural F3 season, claiming one win en-route to eighth in the Championship. For 2004 Rosberg would emerge as a title pretender, winning the first two rounds of the season, although a large number of retirements meant that the German registered youth slipped back to fourth come the end of the campaign. Regardless, that campaign earned Rosberg the attentions of his father's former F1 employers Williams F1, who duly signed him as their second test/development driver.

GP2 Series History
Rosberg was signed alongside Alexandre Prémat to the ART Grand Prix team for the inaugural 2005 FIA GP2 Series, after the French squad had poached him from BCN Competición. Indeed, ART bosses Nicolas Todt and Frédéric Vasseur put together a presentation in order to get Rosberg on board, with the Finnish-German racer duly signing up to the team with a hefty c.£850,000 war chest paid to the ART team. The German youth would go on to out-pace teammate Prémat at the Pre-Season Test, and was hence issued with #9 as his race number.

Post GP2 Series Career
Rosberg was duly signed to the full Williams F1 team for the 2006 season, partnering Mark Webber for his maiden season. An impressive start to the campaign saw Rosberg claim debut points and become the then-youngest fastest lap setter, before reliability woes dropped him down the field to seventeenth at the end of the season. Regardless, Rosberg was retained at Williams for 2007, and a more consistent season saw him move up to ninth in the Championship.

Williams Wobbles: 2008 - 2009
2008 saw Rosberg claim his maiden podium finish, sharing a podium with his then-friend Lewis Hamilton for the first time since they had been in karting. The German racer would narrowly miss-out on his maiden F1 victory at Singapore later in the season, finishing the campaign in thirteenth. For 2009 Rosberg would again race for Williams, and while he would not match the heights of 2008, the German youth would improve to seventh in the Championship.

Mercedes Machinations: 2010 - 2013
For 2010 Rosberg agreed a deal to partner returning F1 legend Michael Schumacher at the new Mercedes Grand Prix team, with the German racer becoming a full factory Mercedes driver. Rosberg would impress against his legendary teammate, claiming three podiums to hold seventh in the Championship. Retained for the 2011 season, Rosberg would again out-class Schumacher, and would again finish the season in seventh in the Championship.

2012 would see Rosberg achieve another land-mark, claiming his maiden F1 victory and the first for Mercedes, as a constructor since 1955, although he would slip to thirteenth in the Championship. 2013 saw Rosberg partnered by Hamilton for the first time since their karting days, with two more wins seeing the German racer finish sixth in the Championship. It was the 2014 season, however, that would change the perception of Rosberg's career, as a new engine formula setup a period of dominance for Mercedes.

Rivalry Rumbles: 2014 - 2016
Hamilton and Rosberg would have a huge advantage during the 2014 season, leading to an intense duel for the F1 Championship between the duo although Hamilton would come out on top. Their advantage would last through to the 2015 campaign, with Rosberg again challenging Hamilton for supremacy, although he would once again find himself beaten by Hamilton by a comfortable margin. As a result Rosberg would push for changes to be made within the Mercedes garage, with the two mechanic teams swapped between his and Hamilton's cars, among other planned changes.

2016 saw Rosberg open the season with a string of four victories, leaving him in command of the Championship as teammate Hamilton struggled with mechanical issues. However, their relationship would collapse mid-season after a series of collisions and on-track clashes, with Hamilton ultimately managing to claim the Championship lead before the end of the European season. However, Rosberg would rally back after the summer-break, and combined with an engine failure for Hamilton in Malaysia would manage to claim the 2016 Formula One World Championship.

Five days after claiming the F1 title, Rosberg made the shock decision to retire from racing to focus on his family, instead focusing on driver management and punditry.

Full GP2 Series Record
Shown below are a series of tables outlining 's career in the GP2 Series in statistical form.

GP2 Series Entries
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for during their GP2 career:

Career Results
Below is a table showing 's full GP2 Series record.


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