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124-580: At the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix , Nico Rosberg took Mercedes's first pole position and win since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix . The F1 W03 was introduced at the first race of the season in Melbourne with what was described as a "radical wing concept". Speculation suggested that the wing used the F-duct concept (developed by McLaren in 2010 ) by blowing air across the surface of the wing to "stall" it, thereby cancelling out all downforce and drag running over

248-570: A Grand Prix driving a German car in Formula 1 history. The win was also the first win for an official Mercedes-Benz team since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix , after which Mercedes departed from Formula One for 55 seasons. Rosberg led home the McLaren pair of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton by over twenty seconds. The race itself was characterised by intense battling throughout the field and by high reliability with 23 of 24 starters finishing

372-658: A double diffuser system and Rosberg led the first 15 laps of the Malaysian Grand Prix, however, the team could not sustain the car's pace of development. He finished 16 of 17 rounds; the exception was the Brazilian Grand Prix . 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 . He scored 34.5 points for seventh in

496-624: A go-kart track in Ibiza for a holiday. He steered a Jeep , and his father controlled its speed with the accelerator and the brake pedals. 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. His parents, who did not discourage their son's career choice, consented on

620-674: A test driver . He remained with Team Rosberg for the 2004 Formula 3 Euro Series . Before that, Rosberg won two rounds of the Spanish Formula 3 Winter Series at the Circuito de Albacete as preparation. He 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 Nürburgring and three podium finishes. Rosberg finished fourth in

744-500: A Formula One grand prix since 1950 , and the 12th different Mercedes powered winner in Formula One. Button finished 20 seconds adrift in 2nd after a pit stop error robbed what little chance he may have had at taking victory (although unlikely given Rosberg's pace and the difficulty seen when overtaking on this track). Locking out an all Mercedes-powered podium was Hamilton, followed by Red Bull's Mark Webber in 4th. Both Hamilton and Webber have now finished 3rd and 4th respectively for all of

868-661: A broken gearbox . Thereafter, Rosberg earned points in nine of the season's ten final rounds with consecutive podium finishes— second at the Indian Grand Prix and third at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix . He finished sixth in the WDC with 171 points and three pole positions. Rosberg's results over the season earned him additional respect within the Formula One community. Rosberg continued to drive for Mercedes in 2014 with Lewis Hamilton again as his teammate. He

992-407: A bumpy track to ask the car to take as much as possible. 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. Will Buxton , a motorsport commentator and pundit, described him as "quick from the outset" and a driver who "was so impressive; seemingly effortlessly rapid and blessed with

1116-635: A campaign called #DriveForGood in which €100 was donated for every kilometre he led in a Formula One race from the 2015 Chinese Grand Prix to the season-ending 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In 2012, Rosberg teamed with the children's aid organisation Ein Herz für Kinder (German: A Heart for Children) and has raised capital for the charity through various events. Rosberg has worked for the Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli charity, which supplies water and basic sanitation to individuals in developing countries. In response to

1240-531: A campaign to bring energetic drivers to the sport. Williams told Rosberg in October 2005 that he was assured of a role on the team as either a racer or test driver for 2006 after British American Racing 's Jenson Button was released from a contract with the team. Autosport reported 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. The following month, Rosberg signed

1364-535: A civil ceremony in Monaco on 11 July 2014. They have two children, and run a creamery shop in Ibiza. He 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, Rosberg had his first driving experience when his father took him to

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1488-416: A five-year contract with Williams, being selected by Frank Williams for his driving ability, his knowledge of Formula One technology, and for articulately communicating data to engineers. He was told of the news by his father in advance. Rosberg was paid £500,000 by Williams and was the first son of a former world champion in Formula One since Damon Hill in 1999 . To prepare for the season, he achieved

1612-738: A highly uncompetitive Toro Rosso (teammate Vergne was 16th). This race was the first win for the Brackley-based Mercedes GP team since the 2009 Italian Grand Prix when Rubens Barrichello won when the team was known as Brawn GP . The event took place between 12 and 15 April where throughout the weekend there were support events. Taking part in the Chinese Grand Prix program was the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia with 2 races. Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985)

1736-453: A hint of canny PR-iness, distributing praise with diligent equality and seasoning his narrative with caveats when required." He has avoided appearing to be courageous to impress others, and some saw him as detrimental to Formula One's goal to attract new fans due to a perceived lack of personality and his commitment to fitness. Nicknamed "Britney" after the singer Britney Spears by his colleagues at Williams for sporting blonde hair, Rosberg

1860-479: A new fastest lap upon emerging. Button and Hamilton followed suit soon after. Räikkönen pitted from 2nd on lap 29, dropping him down to 13th. At this stage of the race, Jenson Button had great pace and was quickly catching the cars ahead who had only stopped once (Pérez, Vettel, Grosjean, and the leading Rosberg). On lap 30, Rob Smedley was heard telling Felipe Massa, "Fernando on a different strategy", essentially telling him to let his teammate through for 10th place at

1984-421: A podium finish. On lap 14, pole sitter and leader Rosberg pitted for mediums tyres leaving an unpitted Pérez in the lead. Following the pit stops, Nico Rosberg once again emerged as the leader, followed by Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, and Kimi Räikkönen. Lap 21 saw everyone in their adjusted positions after everyone had completed one pit stop. On lap 22, Webber stopped for fresh medium tyres, and set

2108-508: A precision that was metronomic." For the 2014 season, the FIA created a new sporting regulation to allow a driver to select a unique car number for use throughout their Formula One career. Rosberg selected number six because it was his wife and father's lucky number. He also changed the colour of his helmet after eight years from yellow to dark grey. The overall design included chrome, some Buddhist influence, clean lines, and personal symbols; it

2232-589: A recipient "for their dedication to motor racing, spirit of competition and achievements". At the 2014 Brazilian Grand Prix, he won the inaugural FIA Pole Trophy for winning more pole positions than any other driver during the 2014 season with 11. Rosberg won the DHL Fastest Lap Award because he recorded seven fastest laps, more than any other driver during the 2016 season. Rosberg won the Bambi Best Sportsman Award in 2014,

2356-404: A reported €55 million with Mercedes that was due to expire at the conclusion of 2016 , Rosberg continued to drive for the team in 2015 . During the off-season he sought to correct a body deficiency, which caused him to hold his breath against g-forces in high-speed corners, since he did not want to limit the flow of oxygen to his brain and muscles. After four top-three podium finishes in

2480-458: A second. It was the first time since the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix (where he qualified 16th) that Vettel failed to make the top 10 (and hence the final Q3 session). This brought his streak of 41 consecutive qualifying sessions to make the top 10 to an end. Following Vettel in 11th was Massa in 12th (the same as Malaysia) and the two Williams cars of Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna who were within 0.006 seconds of each other. In 15th and 16th were

2604-613: A single victory. Schumacher achieved his last podium finish of his career at the European Grand Prix . At the Brazilian Grand Prix , both W03s carried a Schumacher's farewell logo, marking his retirement from the sport. At the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed , Lewis Hamilton demonstrated the W03 in W05 livery. ( key ) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) Driver failed to finish

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2728-464: A strong work ethic, talking to engineers and mechanics, and approached each circuit with the care of a cartographer. Formula One pundits regarded Rosberg as "among the most promising emergent stars of what some already call 'the Lewis generation'." The media and fans compared him initially to the 1982 world champion, his father Keke. That comparison lessened as his career progressed; he refused to discuss

2852-522: A track temperature of 24 °C (75 °F). Massa, Senna, and the two Toro Rossos started on the medium tyre while everybody else had the soft yellow banded tyre fitted for the start. The Rosberg-led Mercedes cars led as they lined up on the grid into turn 1 with relative ease, while behind them Kobayashi starting in P3 was down to 6th by the fourth corner. Button started well and took sixth ahead of Räikkönen in an almost incident-free first lap. Only minor contact

2976-518: 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. He discussed it twice with his wife Vivian before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and decided to commit to retiring before the race commenced. Afterwards, Rosberg told Vivian and manager Georg Noite that he would retire before telephoning

3100-448: Is Rosberg doing?", to which his engineer replied "Rosberg is seven-tenths slower than us". However, this was before Rosberg pitted for new tyres, and now Rosberg was six-tenths a lap up on Button. Lap 38 saw Hamilton pit from 3rd, closely followed in by Alonso, dropping them to 10th and 11th respectively. Button's final pit stop while 7 seconds ahead, on lap 39, was delayed due to an error on the left rear wheel and allowed Rosberg back into

3224-593: Is a German and Finnish former racing driver and entrepreneur, who competed under the German flag in Formula One from 2006 to 2016 . Rosberg won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 2016 with Mercedes , and won 23 Grands Prix across 11 seasons. The only child of Finnish 1982 Formula One World Champion Keke Rosberg and his German wife, he was born in Wiesbaden but

3348-484: Is a citizen of both countries, competing with a Finnish racing license until after his first season in the Formula 3 Euro Series . He switched to a German license as he felt it was easier to obtain major sponsorship agreements with nationality of a larger country. 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

3472-539: Is an ambassador for Mercedes-Benz, Laureus , the investment bank UBS , the Tribute to Bambi Foundation, and the electric car manufacturer Schaeffler Group . He 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. Rosberg accumulated €160,900 for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation as part of

3596-497: Is shy in private, reserved, quiet, and has a dry and sarcastic wit, which has occasionally "played out with a deft finesse." He has been called charming, shrewd, intelligent, focused, and photogenic. Rosberg prefers to be challenged for structuring, and is an avid reader of books that further his knowledge. His wealthy and cosmopolitan Monegasque upbringing, coupled with his polyglotism led him to describe himself as an "International German." Throughout his career, Rosberg had

3720-579: The Belgian Grand Prix , but the MGP W02 wore the Pirelli tyres quickly, making the car noncompetitive. Rosberg was able to maintain a consistent performance in every qualifying session and began higher than his teammate Schumacher sixteen times to three. He finished no higher than fifth in the season's 19 rounds and was seventh in the WDC with 89 points. The press linked Rosberg to replace

3844-402: The Brazilian Grand Prix to ensure the championship would be decided at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix . To win the title, he needed to win the race with Hamilton third or lower. Hamilton was already ahead of Rosberg on track and leading the race when an energy recovery system failure meant Rosberg scored no points for second in the WDC with 317 points. Having signed a contract worth

Mercedes F1 W03 - Misplaced Pages Continue

3968-563: The Chinese Grand Prix , the season's third round, he took the first pole position of his career and his maiden career victory. He 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. Rosberg had accumulated more championship points than any other driver in the season's previous four races and emerged as an unlikely contender for

4092-590: The Constructors' Championship . 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 Rosberg was the more experienced driver on his team, being partnered by Williams test driver Kazuki Nakajima . He began the season by finishing third at the Australian Grand Prix , the first podium finish of his career. Afterwards, his campaign faltered because

4216-544: The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) because he did not feel fit enough to return to racing. In late 2020, he established 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. He entered the series because of its promised racing action and wanted to help combat some of climate change's effects collectively. Rosberg X Racing won

4340-642: The FIA declaring the design to be legal, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner stated that his team was still seeking clarification on the matter, which he expected to be resolved in Shanghai, despite having previously sought a "final ruling" in Malaysia. On the Thursday before the race, Lotus F1 filed a formal protest against the front wing design, citing Article 3.15 of the technical regulations as

4464-481: The FW30 car lacked outright performance and Williams did not develop the car fast enough for it to be competitive. 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. He improved the best result of his career with a second at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix 14 races later, and finished 13th in

4588-615: The Malaysian Grand Prix , the Chinese Grand Prix , and the British Grand Prix . He 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. He 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

4712-433: The Malaysian Grand Prix , the season's second race, a minor controversy came about when Mercedes invoked team orders on him to stay behind Hamilton. Unhappy with the decision, 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. He then won the British Grand Prix for his third career victory after Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel suffered

4836-985: The Sport Bild Special Award 2014, the 2016 BRDC Johnny Wakefield Trophy for "setting the fastest race lap of the season on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit", the Autosport International Racing Driver Award in the same year, the 2016 ADAC Motorsportsman of the Year Award, the 2017 Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year , the DMSB Cup from the German Motor Sport Federation (German: Deutscher Motor Sport Bund; DMSB) that same year, and

4960-512: The inaugural Extreme E constructors' title with drivers Johan Kristoffersson and Molly Taylor as drivers' champions. The team narrowly missed out on retaining the constructors' title in 2022 by two points to Lewis Hamilton's Team X44 . Rosberg has a YouTube vlogging channel, and hosts the podcast "Beyond Victory" in which he discusses human performance and development with his guests. Journalists describe Rosberg as articulate, one who speaks with "Germanic precision" and has "more than

5084-654: The murder of George Floyd , in June 2020, Rosberg donated €10,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund to aid its efforts in educating the public on racism and ending segregation. He invested money into projects involving reforestation in Germany and the promotion of South American sustainable agro-forestry. On 5 June 2011 Rosberg received the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy , which honours

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5208-743: The 2000 season. He was runner-up in the European KF1 Championship and finished ninth in the Formula A World Cup. In 2001, Rosberg was tenth in the South Garda Winter Cup and sixteenth in the Formula Super A World Championship. He concluded his karting career with a third-place finish in the latter series at a race in Kerpen . At the age of 16, Rosberg progressed to car racing, competing in three races for

5332-539: The 2001 Formula BMW Junior Cup Iberia finishing in 18th in the Drivers' Championship with 38 points. For his first full season of car racing, he drove for VIVA Racing in the 2002 Formula BMW ADAC Championship , winning the drivers' title with nine victories from twenty races and amassing 264 points. For winning the title, Rosberg drove a Williams FW24 at a test session at the Circuit de Catalunya on 3 December. At

5456-829: The 2016 season, Rosberg stopped reading the news and studied sleep with a jet-lag doctor as he focused on his family and winning the next event. He altered his racing gloves to improve his starts, removed paint from his helmet to make it 80 g (2.8 oz) lighter that slightly improved his performance, employed a mental trainer to increase his aggression, and spent his spare time go-karting to maintain his ability. 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. He worked with his sports psychologist for up to eight hours per week with two hours of mental discipline every two days. Rosberg said he

5580-743: The Drivers' Championship with 70 points and was sixth at the Masters of Formula 3 . He later crashed from the lead of the Macau Grand Prix in November and was second at the Bahrain Superprix a month later. In the off-season, he passed an interview for acceptance into Imperial College London , a university where several Formula One designers were educated, to study aeronautical engineering . Rosberg chose not to further his education so as to be able to commit to his racing career;

5704-704: The European Championship for Cadets. In 1999, he was runner-up in the Italian Junior Karting Championship and was fourth in the ICA Junior CIK-FIA European Championship, again driving a CRG. 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. Rosberg raced for TeamMBM.com ( Mercedes-Benz McLaren ) for

5828-787: The F1 Technical Regulations, sought clarification from the FIA Formula One Technical Department concerning this matter and the FIA confirmed that the Mercedes design had been deemed permissible", before the start of the season. Lotus later confirmed that they would not appeal against the decision. The F1 W03 propelled Mercedes to finish fifth in the World Constructors' Championship with 142 points, 23 points adrift from its predecessor. Regardless, it secured three podium finishes and

5952-694: The French Manufacturers' Trophy and the Côte d'Azur Regional Championship in the same year. He progressed to the European karting championships for 1998 after moving from France to Italy so he could enter international events. Competing in the 100 Junior category in a CRG kart, Rosberg finished fifth at the 28° Torneo Industrie, seventh in the Trofeo Andrea Margutti, and crashed out in the 1998 Green Helmet Trophy Cadets class of

6076-757: The GP2 Series. After race driver Nick Heidfeld was injured in a bicycle accident in September, Rosberg was shortlisted by Williams as his potential replacement for the final two races, the Japanese Grand Prix and the Chinese Grand Prix . The team opted for Pizzonia because they did not want to risk delaying Rosberg's career by one to two years if he had a poor performance. Bernie Ecclestone , Formula One's commercial rights owner, said to Williams team principal and founder Frank Williams he thought it would be advantageous to sign Rosberg as part of

6200-498: The Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff about it. He did not tell Wolff in person because he was apprehensive about Wolff's reaction. At an FIA Prize Giving Ceremony in Vienna on 2 December 2016, five days after winning the championship, he made public his decision to retire. 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. He

6324-797: The Spanish island of Ibiza . He was educated at the International School of Nice and the International School of Monaco . Rosberg was encouraged to pursue ventures in academia and sports. He 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. Rosberg enjoyed studying mathematics and science, and passed all of his examinations except history. He graduated with an average grade of 1.2 in 2002. Rosberg married interior designer Vivian Sibold at

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6448-505: The Thursday before the Australian Grand Prix, the FIA's technical delegate Charlie Whiting declared the system to be legal. However, shortly before the final practice session on Saturday afternoon, representatives from Red Bull Racing and Lotus F1 approached the race stewards and requested that the FIA review the original verdict, claiming that the front wing system was in violation of Articles 3.15 and 3.18, which govern

6572-668: The United Kingdom, RTL in Germany, and Sky Italia in Italy. He impressed viewers for conveying digestible information to them. That same year, Rosberg co-founded the Rosberg Young Drivers Academy with karting mentor Dino Chiesa to scout and support young go-kart drivers. In April 2019, Rosberg declined an offer from the Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass to drive an RS5 DTM as a wild-card entrant in

6696-602: 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. Rosberg became the second son of a former world champion to win the title since Damon Hill replicated his father Graham Hill in 1996 . He published a limited-edition book entitled Finally about the 2016 season on 24 December 2016. Overall, Rosberg competed in 206 races: he won 23, achieved 30 pole positions, gained 57 podium finishes, and scored 1594.5 championship points. Rosberg, who had signed

6820-408: The WDC with 17 points. Rosberg was again partnered with Nakajima for the 2009 season. He lost five percent of his body weight to compensate for the introduction of the kinetic energy recovery systems increasing the car's minimum weight limit to 605 kg (1,334 lb). Rosberg had an improved season: the Williams FW31 was one of three cars to have an early speed advantage because it featured

6944-402: The WDC. His performances throughout the season enhanced his reputation, and he was linked to several teams for 2008 . McLaren offered Frank Williams "majestic proportions" to sign Rosberg to replace the outgoing two-time world champion Fernando Alonso , but Williams immediately rejected the offer. Rosberg's contract was extended to the end of 2009 on the basis of where Williams finished in

7068-464: The WDC. In mid-to-late 2009, Mercedes-Benz vice-president of motorsport Norbert Haug discussed with Rosberg the possibility of driving for the manufacturer in 2010 pending its acquisition of Brawn GP . Rosberg also 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. On 29 October, he confirmed his departure from Williams at

7192-436: The WDC. Notwithstanding this, he achieved one further top-five finish during the season. However, he struggled to generate temperature into the rear tires on the Mercedes F1 W03 regardless of the climatic conditions, and the car was suited to circuits with slow-speed corners. He was ninth in the WDC with 93 points. Before the 2013 season, Rosberg was joined at Mercedes by the 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton, who replaced

7316-408: The Year and was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame in 2017. Rosberg was born on 27 June 1985 at the Red Cross Hospital in Wiesbaden , West Germany , the only child of German interpreter Gesine "Sina" ( née  Gleitsmann-Dengel ) and Finnish racing driver Keke Rosberg , who won the 1982 Formula One World Championship. Because his father is Finnish and his mother is German, Rosberg

7440-404: The car because of Brawn GP's title focus the previous year. The car was five-tenths of a second slower on most circuits. Rosberg was seventh in the WDC with 142 points. His performances during the season enhanced his reputation as a consistent and fast driver. Rosberg remained with Mercedes for 2011 and was again joined by Schumacher. He had a mixed season: he led the Chinese Grand Prix and

7564-444: The championship lead from Rosberg over the next eight races after sub-par results from the former. During the mid-season interval, Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda paid a special visit to Rosberg's home in Ibiza , to help Rosberg regain his confidence and to bounce back. Rosberg changed his diet to remove sugars from his body and abstained from alcohol. Rosberg mulled over how to further improve his performance; to avoid

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7688-443: The championship lead. 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. Victories in Austria , Germany , followed by contact with Hamilton in Belgium made it appear he would win the championship, until a short circuit on his car in Singapore nullified his points lead. Rosberg took four consecutive podium finishes and won

7812-408: The changes, especially over a single lap. He shared his father's preference of oversteer over understeer and lacked a flamboyant driving technique. Rosberg's qualifying preparations would be compromised in the event that he leaned towards a race setup; he analysed the situation and attempted to optimise his driving style to win races. He occasionally used more of the circuit, using his car's ride over

7936-448: The comparison with the press and the difficulty in attempting to achieve as much success as his father was rarely mentioned. When 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. Rosberg had a scientific and technical driving style; he sought to fine-tune his car in specific detail and adapted his driving ability around

8060-428: The conclusion of the season and was officially released from his contract with the team on 1 January 2010. One week later Mercedes purchased 75 percent of Brawn GP and entered Formula One under its own name, employing Rosberg to drive for the team. He was partnered with the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher and was assigned car No. 4 after Schumacher requested No. 3 for superstitious reasons. Rosberg

8184-455: The condition that he maintained good grades at school. Rosberg's competitive mindset, and his early achievements in go-karting helped him to improve his driving ability and to convince his father to manage him. In 1996, Rosberg won the Côte d'Azur Mini-Kart Regional Championship, and the Trophee Jérôme Bernard and the Trophee de France in 1997. Aged 12, he was the youngest champion of a French national karting series. Rosberg finished second in

8308-399: The construction of electric and self-driving vehicles. In July 2017, he visited the headquarters of the all-electric Formula E racing series, and became fascinated in the e-mobility movement. Rosberg became a long-term investor and shareholder in Formula E in early 2018. Focusing primarily on Europe, Rosberg has invested in multiple start-up technology and e-mobility companies. He had

8432-415: The detection point located at Turn 12 and the activation point positioned along the back straight. Like the Australian Grand Prix, tyre supplier Pirelli brought its white-banded medium compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound tyre as the softer "option" tyre, whereas in 2011, the "prime" compound was the silver-banded hard compound tyre. Qualifying for the third race of

8556-403: The discarded tyre marbles while trying to overtake Maldonado and nearly collected the Sauber of Sergio Pérez on the way back onto track. Grosjean who was a part of the train went wide in turn 7 (like Alonso) and lost grip on tyre marbles while trying to overtake Vettel, consequently losing some positions. By lap 49 Räikkönen's tyres appeared to hit the 'cliff' and lose effective tyre performance. In

8680-440: The end of the session, Jean-Éric Vergne , for the second consecutive race, failed to make Q2 and was 18th ahead of the usual eliminated cars. In fact, all the eliminated cars in Q1 were in identical positions from the Malaysian Q1 qualifying session. Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen led teammate Vitaly Petrov and Timo Glock led the Marussias , while at the rear were the HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan . For

8804-410: The final point in 10th ahead of teammate Pérez in a disappointing grand prix for the Sauber team after having such a great qualifying performance. Of note was 2007 world champion Kimi Räikkönen who finished a disappointing 14th after his tyres were too worn. Also, of note was the fact that 17 drivers completed the race on the lead lap, with Daniel Ricciardo in 17th just over one minute behind the leader in

8928-752: The first four races, he won in Spain , Monaco and Austria , which came as his overall performance lowered from focusing more on the race than on qualifying; Vettel threatened Rosberg's hold on second overall. Retirements in Italy and Russia and two errors on a wet track at the United States Grand Prix stopped him from taking the championship, but wins in the final three races in Mexico , Brazil and Abu Dhabi and six consecutive pole positions placed him runner-up overall with 322 points. Before

9052-506: The grounds for their challenge. The stewards later unanimously rejected the protest and Lotus has since confirmed that they will not appeal against decision. On the Thursday before the race, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton was given a five-place grid penalty after the team was forced to change his car's gearbox for the race. The FIA confirmed that the Drag Reduction System (DRS) zone will be unchanged from 2011 , with

9176-519: The highest score ever in Williams's Engineering Aptitude Test, which tests a new driver's knowledge of car mechanics and engineering aspects of Formula One, and ceased reading the news to avoid becoming angered by negative publicity. He was assigned race engineer Tony Ross. At the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix , Rosberg scored his first career points with a seventh-place finish and set

9300-744: The idea to launch the annual Greentech Festival trade fair, which he did with the entrepreneurs Sven Krüger and Marco Voigt in February 2019 to showcase sustainable technologies from around the world in Berlin. He replaced Frank Thelen as an investor on the German television programme Die Höhle der Löwen (The Lions' Cave) in late 2019. In 2022, Rosberg launched the non-profit organisation Rosberg Philanthropies that focuses on environmental protection and supporting children. In October 2017, Rosberg joined Team Rosberg as an adviser for its ADAC GT Masters sports car championship team in 2018 . He also joined

9424-401: The inaugural GP2 Series championship with ART Grand Prix in 2005 . Rosberg first drove in Formula One with Williams from 2006 to 2009 and achieved two podium finishes for the team in 2008 . For 2010 , he moved to Mercedes, partnering fellow German and seven-time World Drivers' Champion Michael Schumacher . Rosberg took his first career win at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix . He was

9548-431: The installation of a less complex seamless transmission. He had more confidence in setting up the car to his liking, extracting additional speed and balance consistently. Rosberg also 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 . Rosberg scored 20 points for ninth in

9672-491: The lead, followed by Rosberg and Hamilton, who was closely pressed by Alonso for third. At this stage of the race, a 'train' of cars started to form (seen clearly down the back straight). From Massa in 5th, who had only stopped once, the next three cars all had their DRS open, meaning they were all within one second of each other and it appeared Massa was fast enough not to be overtaken, but slow enough to keep everyone bunched up behind him. Replays were shown of Mark Webber, prior to

9796-432: The lead. Following Button's pit stop, Rosberg now led Massa by 19.1 seconds in clear command and within sight of victory as highlighted by his engineer saying "most important thing is your looking after the tyres". Finally Massa pitted from second place, but he now released a Räikkönen-led train of cars. On lap 43, eleven cars could be seen from one end to the other of the long back DRS straight. Alonso went wide on turn 7 onto

9920-414: The long DRS back straight, going wide and hitting a bump to ascend both his front tyres off the ground by half a metre. Luckily, he handed the car without damaging the suspension of front wing allowing him to only lose a second of lap time. The train continued to grow by lap 38 as Grosjean in 10th joined Massa, Räikkönen, Kobayshi, and Vettel in the battle for 5th. Jenson Button asked his engineer "what time

10044-409: The loser during the pit stop phase. Michael Schumacher was forced to retire after a miscommunication resulted in him leaving the pit lane before his right front wheel was properly fitted. The wheel-gun man knew he made an error and immediately tried to call Schumacher back, but it was too late. He was subsequently the only retirement of the race, leaving Mercedes to ponder what could have been at least

10168-509: The management team of the racing driver Robert Kubica that September. 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. He reduced his involvement with Kubica in April 2018 to focus on his business career. Since the 2018 season, Rosberg has analysed select Formula One races for Sky Sports F1 in

10292-420: The pits, while everyone else scrambled to get into the top 10 for Q3. Vettel was in 7th as the chequered flag fell, however, many cars were still on flying 'hot laps'. Sergio Pérez jumped into Q3 as did Grosjean from P17 (only needing one timed lap). In a huge shock, Vettel who was on pole for the last three consecutive Chinese Grands Prix failed to make Q3. On his final lap, he only improved his time by 0.003 of

10416-493: The points lead during the season-ending Bahrain International Circuit round, winning both races to claim the first GP2 Series title with 120 points. In April 2005, Rosberg was signed by Williams as its second test driver. He and fellow driver Nelson Piquet Jr. were analysed extensively before Rosberg was selected. He worked with Williams's test and reserve driver Antônio Pizzonia and continued to focus on

10540-613: The poor performing Felipe Massa at Ferrari for 2012 . In November 2011, he signed a contract extension to remain at Mercedes until after 2013 . An important factor in 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. Other reasons included his belief Mercedes would be able to improve their performance and challenge for race victories. Three-time world champion Niki Lauda began to advise Rosberg. At

10664-432: The race's fastest lap , becoming at the time the youngest fastest lap setter in history, aged 20 years, 8 months and 13 days. One week later, at the Malaysian Grand Prix , he achieved a season-best start of third before his engine failed after seven laps. He 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. Rosberg

10788-568: The race, but was classified as they had completed greater than 90% of the race distance. Italics indicate factory team. 2012 Chinese Grand Prix Overcast but Dry Air Temp 22 °C (72 °F) The 2012 Chinese Grand Prix (formally the 2012 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix ) was a Formula One motor race held on 15 April 2012 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai , China . It

10912-522: The race. This race was also HRT 's thirty-ninth race start, setting the record for most Grand Prix starts without scoring a single point. This was the first race since the 2009 Italian Grand Prix that was not won by Red Bull , McLaren or Ferrari . After extended debate over the legality of the Mercedes F1 W03 's "front wing F-duct" design in Australia and Malaysia , that ended with

11036-572: The retired Michael Schumacher. He was granted equal status by Mercedes and received no preferential treatment alongside Hamilton. During the pre-season period, Rosberg visited the Mercedes factory in Brackley , England, displaying a fascination with the F1 W04 's technological development and assisting the team in the car's development. Rosberg challenged his teammate Hamilton during the season qualifying higher eight times and finishing more often. At

11160-407: The season began at 2 pm local time under cloudy and overcast conditions with an ambient temperature of 21 °C (70 °F) and a track temperature of 26 °C (79 °F) (significantly cooler than the previous Malaysia qualifying session). Prior to the start of Q1, Ferrari spoke with Sky Sports commentator Ted Kravitz and said "they need a miracle to get into Q3 today", highlighting just how far

11284-496: The second Lotus didn't complete a timed lap and hence was 10th. In another milestone, it was the first time that both Saubers had qualified in the top 10 since the 2009 season when team were known as BMW Sauber . After qualifying, Jean-Éric Vergne made changes to his car before the race, leading to him starting the race in pit lane. In contrast to the previous Malaysian Grand Prix, the race began under mild cloudy conditions with an ambient temperature of 22 °C (72 °F) and

11408-511: The second session, the two Saubers and Kimi Räikkönen were first to set timed laps. Romain Grosjean was late to post a lap as he made a mistake on his first attempt and pitted for a new set of option tyres. Vettel, in 6th midway through the session, was told on the radio that his current time would probably not make it into Q3. With less than 2 minutes remaining only the Mercedes (P1 and P2), Lewis Hamilton (P3) and Räikkönen (P4) remained in

11532-405: The space of 2 laps Räikkönen went from 2nd to 12th. The 'train', which was started by Massa and continued by Räikkönen, led to 2nd to 14th positions being separated by just 15 seconds (rare to see so late in a race without a safety car). With 5 laps remaining, Rosberg had a 20+ second lead while Vettel, in 2nd, finally succumbed to the 3-stopped Button. Vettel, who had gone with a two-stop strategy,

11656-516: The sprung part of the car" — as the basis for their challenge. The stewards later unanimously rejected the protest. They stated that "the sole purpose of the DRS as stated in article 3.18.3, is to improve overtaking. The Mercedes design is completely consistent with this objective" and further clarified that "the protest is dismissed on the grounds that the FIA confirmed the assertion of the Mercedes team that it had, in accordance with Article 2.4 and/or 2.5 of

11780-464: The strain of starting a diet, he refrained from cycling, losing 1 kg (2.2 lb) of muscle in both his legs. He 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. To win the championship, Rosberg needed to finish no worse than third, even if Hamilton won. He won

11904-540: The team thought they were from the front runners. The first session begun with Force India driver Paul di Resta posting the first timed lap of the session. Other drivers followed soon after; all on the harder medium 'prime' tyre. The difference between the medium and the soft compounds was predicted around 0.8 seconds per lap. Leaving their run late, eight minutes into the session both the Red Bull and Mercedes cars had yet to post timed laps. Sebastian Vettel 's engineer

12028-471: The team. 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 . He 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. Rosberg maintained

12152-407: 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. He and his father Keke are the second father-son pairing, after Graham and Damon Hill , that have both won World Drivers' Championships. Rosberg announced his retirement from motor racing five days after clinching

12276-418: The three grands prix this season. Webber's Red Bull teammate, Sebastian Vettel, finished 5th on worn tyres and Romain Grosjean finished 6th in his best ever result in a Formula One race. The Williams cars showed good race pace and earned solid points with Senna in 7th and Maldonado in 8th. Ferrari continued their struggle in dry conditions, with Alonso finishing 9th and teammate Massa in 13th. Kamui Kobayashi took

12400-544: The time, he became the youngest person ever to drive a Formula One car . The 2003 season saw Rosberg progress to the higher-tier Formula 3 Euro Series with Team Rosberg . Driving a Dallara F303 - Opel car, he won once at the Bugatti Circuit and took five podium finishes for eighth in the Drivers' Championship with 45 points. He was second in the Rookie Cup to Christian Klien . In November 2003, Rosberg

12524-628: The time. Soon after Alonso moved ahead of di Resta, justifying Ferrari's radio call to Massa. At this stage it was clear that Rosberg, Vettel, and Räikkönen were on two-stop strategies while Button, Hamilton and Webber were on track for three stops. Pérez was third on lap 35, but under huge pressure from Lewis Hamilton and was locking up his front tyres heavily while defending into the hairpin, turn 14. Rosberg, having continued running on his hard tyres for 21 laps, finally decided to pit on lap 34 for his second and final stop - meaning he would need 22 laps from this set of medium tyres. This allowed Button to take

12648-521: 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. Overall, he started 206 Grands Prix, achieving 23 wins, 30 pole positions , 20 fastest laps and 57 podium finishes. In retirement, Rosberg moved into driver management , television punditry, and became an eco-entrepreneur . He was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of

12772-408: The two Force India cars led by di Resta, while Australian Daniel Ricciardo was last in the session in a clearly uncompetitive Toro Rosso. For the final session, the track was cooling down and German Nico Rosberg was told to think about that in his warm up lap. He was the first to set a timed lap early on with six minutes remaining in the session. The top speed of his car down the long back straight

12896-408: 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 . As a result of Rosberg's endorsement money and Mercedes salary, he was listed as one of the world's highest-paid athletes by Forbes in 2016. Rosberg

13020-462: The university would have allowed him to combine the course with his racing. Rosberg's father did not overturn the decision. For the inaugural GP2 Series season in 2005 , Rosberg wanted to drive for BCN Competicion due to its form in the 2004 International Formula 3000 Championship . ART Grand Prix founders Nicolas Todt and Frédéric Vasseur used a sales presentation to persuade him to race for their squad; he paid around £850,000 to drive for

13144-504: The use of DRS and driver-operated aerodynamic devices. On the Thursday before the Malaysian Grand Prix , the FIA rejected all claims that the system was illegal, allowing Mercedes to compete with an unaltered car. Three weeks later in China , Lotus F1 filed a formal protest against the system, citing Article 3.15 of the technical regulations — which states that "any device that influences the car's aerodynamics must remain immobile in relation to

13268-455: The wing and allowing the car to achieve a higher top speed. The system developed by Mercedes was reported to create an F-duct effect over the front wing when the Drag Reduction System (DRS) flap in the rear wing opened. Opening the flap would expose two vents, which channeled air back through the car and over the front wing, cancelling out the downforce generated by the front wing with the intention of increasing stability in high-speed corners. On

13392-425: Was Hamilton half a second off (who lined up 7th on the grid after a gearbox change incurred a 5 place grid penalty) and teammate Schumacher in 3rd. Kamui Kobayashi qualified 4th fastest in his best ever qualifying result of his Formula One career to date. His previous best qualifying result was 7th in his home race at the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix . Räikkönen, like in Malaysia, posted the 5th quickest time while Button

13516-457: Was Hamilton, further highlighting how good Rosberg's lap was. Schumacher on his radio was told Rosberg's lap time and in reply said "not bad". After seeing Webber more than a second off his fastest lap time, Rosberg got out of his car with just under two minutes still left in the session. After confidently leaving his Mercedes, Rosberg watched everyone else fall short of his time and claimed his first pole position of his 111-race career. Following him

13640-479: Was confident of driving a competitive car and wanted to maintain his form by beating Hamilton more regularly. He 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. Rosberg and Hamilton made high-speed contact at the Spanish Grand Prix after which Hamilton took

13764-453: Was designed by Jens Munser. Creative Artists Agency (CAA), through its sports division CAA Sports, represents Rosberg's commercial ventures. From 2010 to 2015, he was associated with the jewellery and watch brand Thomas Sabo , and the luxury travel accessory maker Tumi. Rosberg signed numerous endorsement contracts; some of the companies with which he has done business are the watchmakers Rolex , International Watch Company and Oris ,

13888-753: 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. That same month, he entered the Macau Grand Prix and the Korea Super Prix with Carlin Motorsport , finishing 11th in Korea. 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

14012-467: Was heard saying that the lap time he did of 1:36.9 would be good enough to make Q2, subsequently it was the 15th best time of the session. With Felipe Massa in 16th after his run on the prime tyre, he was among the first to switch to the grippier soft compound 'option' tyre. His teammate Fernando Alonso followed suit soon after. Surprisingly Jenson Button undertook a lap on the soft tyres during Q1 even though looking like comfortably progressing to Q2. At

14136-517: Was made at the first turn as Bruno Senna ran into the back of Massa's Ferrari slightly damaging his front wing in the process. Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso yet again raced side by side and passed each other three times throughout the first lap - Webber, making a poor start, was scrapping for 9th behind Alonso by lap 5. By the time the DRS was enabled (lap 3) the two leading Mercedes were more than one second ahead of their rivals and therefore out of range from DRS attack from cars behind. By lap 6, Vettel

14260-487: 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 . He 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. He felt that Schumacher was constantly acting to cause him minor stress or to assert dominance. Rosberg finished in third place at

14384-431: Was more than a second from Rosberg's time in 6th. Webber, in the Red Bull, was 7th while Pérez, in the second Sauber, was an impressive 8th with - like his teammate - his best ever qualifying result in his Formula One career to date. His previous best was a 9th in the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix . Alonso, like Räikkönen, was in the same position as the Malaysia qualifying session and lined up on the grid in 9th, while Grojean in

14508-420: Was now struggling like Räikkönen a few laps earlier. Hamilton and Webber were right on his rear wing now and it was only a matter of time before he dropped back. On lap 54, Hamilton took 3rd position from Vettel at the hairpin and a lap later, Mark Webber did the same for 4th. On crossing the chequered flag, Nico Rosberg won his first ever Formula One grand prix from 111 races. He was the 103rd different winner of

14632-422: Was only 314 km/h as he hit the 7th gear rev-limiter meaning that Mercedes cars didn't have the highest top speed but rather made up time through a better acceleration through the f-duct system as he was one of the quickest past the start/finish line speed trap. Rosberg posted a 1:35.121 which was by far the fastest time of the weekend so far. Teammate Michael Schumacher was half a second slower than Rosberg, as

14756-616: Was outpaced by his teammate Mark Webber , with whom he had a good relationship. He finished with 4 points for 17th in the World Drivers' Championship (WDC). For 2007 , Rosberg was partnered by the more experienced Alexander Wurz . He and his father mutually agreed to stop working with each other, and began working with a sports psychologist. 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

14880-542: Was raised primarily in Monaco . 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. At the age of 16, he progressed to car racing, winning nine races to claim the 2002 Formula BMW ADAC Championship with VIVA Racing. He subsequently moved to the higher-tier Formula 3 Euro Series with Team Rosberg in 2003 and 2004 before winning

15004-598: 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. 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 Rosberg

15128-586: Was struggling with straight line speed in 14th position and was 19th fastest through the speed trap, complaining to his engineer via radio. On lap 7, Webber made a strategic early pit stop to change to medium tyres and immediately set a fastest lap time. This prompted a flurry of pit stops by the other drivers. Hamilton and Räikkönen pitted and came out side by side. However, Hamilton had his nose in front, allowing him to rejoin ahead of Räikkönen. Mark Webber slotted in between in Hamilton and Räikkönen, leaving Räikkönen

15252-515: Was the first reigning champion to retire from Formula One since Alain Prost in 1993 . Williams driver Valtteri Bottas replaced Rosberg at Mercedes. In retirement, Rosberg's love of engineering and innovation saw him become an eco-entrepreneur , by investing in positive change to the environment and society. He used his celebrity status to advance the industry, beginning with a fact-finding visit to Silicon Valley , where he tested and observed

15376-513: Was the ninth running of the Chinese Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. The 56-lap race was the third round of the 2012 Formula One season . The race was won by German driver Nico Rosberg driving a Mercedes , after he dominated the race to claim his debut Formula One victory and his first race win since leaving GP2 Series six years previously. Rosberg became the first German driver to win

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