麻豆APP

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Nico Rosberg

Nico Erik Rosberg is a German-Finnish former racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2006 to 2016. He is known for winning the World Drivers’ Championship in 2016 with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport.

He retired after his monumental 2016 Championship season, citing wanting to spend more time with his family and not wanting his driving ability to atrophy as the main factors behind his decision.

To learn more about the man that managed to beat Lewis Hamilton, here are the top 10 amazing facts about Nico Rosberg;

1. Nico grew up in Monaco

Monaco areal view – Unsplash

Nico Erik Rosberg was born on 27 June 1985 at the Red Cross Hospital in Wiesbaden, West Germany to Finnish racing driver Keke Rosberg, who won the 1982 Formula One (F1) World Championship and German interpreter Gesine “Sina” Rosberg.

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.

He was educated at the International School of Nice and the International School of Monaco, where he developed a deep passion for motorsport.

2. Dual citizenship

Nico Rosberg – Wikimedia Commons

Nico鈥檚 his father is Finnish, and his mother is German, Rosberg is a citizen of both countries, though he could also be classified as Mon茅gasque, a native or inhabitant of Monaco, because the family resided in the Principality.

He was known to have competed 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 the nationality of a larger country.

3. Following in his father鈥檚 footsteps

Keke Roseberg, father to Nico Roseberg – Wikipedia

Nico grew up in an environment where his dad had won the 1983 race, this inspired him to also becoming a World Champion, like his dad.

At the age of four, Rosberg had his first driving experience when his father took him to 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 continued his karting career in a team sponsored and created by his father, Keke Rosberg. While racing for Team Rosberg, Nico managed to enter the Formula 3 Championship in 2002.

He was able to accomplish his dream by winning the World Drivers’ Championship in 2016 with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport.

4. A hero to a five-year old

Hand drowning in the water looking for help – Unsplash

Nico Rosberg saved a child from drowning in Monte Carlo in 2016. Rosberg was playing with his daughter on a pier when he spotted a distressed 5-year-old at sea.

He left his seven-month-old daughter, Alaia, in a cot on a jetty while he dived into the ocean fully clothed to swim to the rescue.

The five-year-old boy鈥檚 parents were sitting on the beach and were totally unaware their son had been dragged into trouble by the dangerous undertow. By the time the boy鈥檚 friends had alerted them, Nico was dragging the boy ashore.

The incident happened on the weekend before the Australian Grand Prix on March 20.

5. Nico, worked as a test driver

Nico Rosberg, 2016 Malaysia – Wikimedia Commons

Nico Rosberg, who was awarded the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year and was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame in 2017, was signed by Williams as its second test driver for the 2005 season.

He was selected for the position by Frank Williams because of his driving ability, his knowledge of F1 technology, and for articulately communicating data to engineers.

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.

However, 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.

6. Breaking a record at Formula One

Mercee F1, Nico Rosberg – Unsplash

At the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, 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.

Rosberg set a quick time of 1 minute 55.409 seconds. He recounts the experience, 鈥淚 looked at the pit board the first time around (after his early pit stop) and I was dead last and 60 seconds behind everyone, so I thought that was it and I didn’t expect anything from the race,鈥�

He continues, “Then all of a sudden I started moving up and then on the radio they were saying: ‘Nico you’re doing great, you’re the fastest man on the circuit’. And I was like, ‘no way’. It felt really good out there and I was just pushing like hell. I got closer and closer and then had some great overtaking manoeuvres…which was a lot of fun.鈥�

7. The Hamilton鈥揜osberg rivalry

Hamilton and Rosberg endured a tense rivalry in their time as teammates, 2014 – Wikipedia

The Hamilton鈥揜osberg rivalry was a Formula One rivalry between British racing driver Lewis Hamilton and German racing driver Nico Rosberg.

The rivalry was most prevalent during their four years as team-mates at Mercedes from 2013 to 2016, a period in which the two drivers dominated the sport.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were childhood friends and karting teammates, however their reunion at Mercedes morphed into a bitter rivalry. This led to volatile confrontations on and off the track, with the duo being threatened with suspension at the height of their rivalry.

8. The only Mercedes driver to beat Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton Silverstone, 2018 – Wikipedia

It鈥檚 27 November 2016. The glittering lights of Abu Dhabi鈥檚 Yas Marina Circuit are mere distractions from the fireworks currently on display on the track itself. It鈥檚 the last lap of the last race of the Formula One season and Lewis Hamilton, leading the Grand Prix from his teammate Nico Rosberg but still trailing him in the World Championship.

And then, just like that, it鈥檚 over. The chequered flag falls. Rosberg loses the battle, but he wins the war: second place today enough to crown him the 2016 Formula One World Champion.

It was the only title that didn’t go to Hamilton between 2014 and 2020.

9. Nico is a linguistic virtuoso

Nico Rosberg – Wikipedia

Growing up Nico 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.

10. Nico’s retirement

Rosberg holding the 2016 F1 World Driver’s Championship Trophy – Wikipedia.jpg

Rosberg announced his retirement from motor racing five days after clinching the Formula One World Champion, 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, Rosberg moved into driver management, television punditry, and became an eco-entrepreneur.