Born to race - Upward Curve

Interview
Interview
Born to race
From boy-racer to Formula One superstar Nico Rosberg
has become one of the top F1 drivers of this generation.
Sam Wright charts his journey to Grand Prix champion
and discovers what makes him tick off the track
T
he noise came first. Then a
red-and-white car emerged
from a tunnel, with a yellow
helmet sticking out of the top. A
few seconds later it had gone
again, although the thunderous
sound of the engine continued its
assault on the eardrums long after
the car it was powering had
disappeared from view.
The driver was a man who
became synonymous with the
Monaco Grand Prix – Ayrton Senna
– and as he caressed his McLaren
around the streets of Monte Carlo,
it was under the watchful eye of a
three-year-old Nico Rosberg. As first
childhood memories go, it certainly
beats a trip to the dentist or scraping
a knee on the pavement.
“I was sleeping on the roof of a
boat in the harbour in Monte Carlo,”
Rosberg recalls. “I remember being
woken up on a Sunday morning by
the sound of Ayrton Senna roaring
out of the tunnel as they were
doing warm-up. I can still clearly
see it – as a little child it was like
camping outside.”
14 Upward Curve July-September 2014
Perhaps the toddler picked up a few
tips from the late Brazilian on that
May day in 1989, as not only has
he grown up to become a Formula
One driver, but racing in Monte Carlo
brings out the best of him. While it
is hard to imagine anyone matching
Senna’s record of six wins at the
most famous track in F1, Rosberg
is making a name for himself as a
master of Monaco with successive
victories in 2013 and 2014. His
most recent triumph strengthened
hopes of an even greater prize, one
which Senna himself claimed three
times: the Formula One Drivers’
World Championship.
Romantics might like to think that
Rosberg longed to get behind the
wheel of an F1 car from the moment
he saw Senna in action, but the truth
is that racing is in his blood. Born in
Wiesbaden, West Germany in 1985,
he is the son of a German mother
(Sina) and Finnish father (Keke).
Three years before Nico arrived in
this world, Keke became the first
Finn to win the world title. Nico spent
many of his early years in Monaco,
Pictured: From eager go-karter
to world-renowned F1 driver,
racing is in Rosberg’s blood
where he still lives today, and
followed his father’s racing career
from track to track. He was 10 when
he first seriously thought about
becoming a professional racing
driver. “I remember my father’s last
race very clearly when he drove at
Hockenheim in front of 100,000
people and I was sitting next to him
on the roof of his car and waving to
the fans,” he recalls. “That was the
moment when I thought, ‘One day I
want to do the same’.”
From there, Rosberg junior
followed the familiar path that has
been trodden – or rather driven –
by so many F1 wannabes when
he began competing in go-karts.
Wearing a helmet with the same
blue, white and yellow colours made
famous by his father, he quickly
showed that he was blessed with
Keke’s ability behind a wheel too.
That talent soon translated into
winning trophies.
The go-karting circuit was
also where he first came face to
face with his future Mercedes
team-mate, Lewis Hamilton. “We
did two years as team-mates in
karting and became really good
friends. But we were also massively
competitive,” Rosberg explains. “It
was so competitive between us – in
the amount of pizzas we could eat,
the wrestling matches in the hotel
rooms, whatever it was.” The young
ON JOINING THE
MERCEDES TEAM –
‘I THINK I CAN MAKE
A BIG STEP UP. THIS IS
THE OPPORTUNITY I’VE
BEEN WAITING FOR’
Britain edged his German compatriot
in the title race in 2000 and the first
seeds of a keen rivalry were sown,
but more on that later.
Rosberg soon proved that he
could handle bigger engines, and
much faster cars. He sped through
the racing ranks, winning the
German Formula BMW title in 2000.
In a taste of what lay ahead, he had
his first F1 test session with Williams
in 2004, and a year later was the
inaugural winner of the GP2 Series
for the ART Grand Prix team.
It was no surprise when Williams
came calling again, asking the then
20-year-old to return, this time in a
permanent role after a seat became
available when Jenson Button chose
to remain with BAR. Rosberg will
always be grateful for that stroke
of luck: “I think I was happier
about that decision than even
Jenson,” he remembers. “It gave
me the chance to race at the
pinnacle of motorsport.”
Some argued at the time that
Rosberg would struggle with the
pressure of being the son of a world
champion, but the man himself has
never let it bother him. “Having the
Interview
Rosberg name isn’t an extra burden
and doesn’t really add additional
pressure as it’s the only thing I’ve
known in my life,” he explains.
No doubt his relaxed nature
helps in that respect. In many ways,
he is unlike the typical F1 driver. He
is a softly spoken character who is
fluent in five languages. Unlike many
of his peers, he has not jumped from
one glamorous girlfriend to another,
but has been with interior design
student Vivian Sibold since 2003.
Their parents are family friends.
“Family and stability are very
important for me,” Rosberg says,
before revealing that his partner is
something of a lucky charm: “When
Vivian comes to the race I win.”
Far from being one to hog the
limelight, in his free time he prefers
to go cycling, play backgammon (a
family tradition), or devote his time to
the Laureus charity. Since becoming
an ambassador in 2013, Rosberg
has worked on several causes for
Laureus including the Magic Bus
programme, which aims to build a
poverty-free future for children. At
last year’s Indian Grand Prix, he gave
20 children an exclusive tour around
the Buddh International Circuit and
the Mercedes garage.
“Sport is so effective in inspiring
young people and giving them hope
for the future. Nowhere is this more
true than in India where so many
children have to struggle from the
day they are born,” Rosberg says.
“I certainly found it moving
listening to some of their stories
about what life has been like for
them and how they have been
given support and direction by the
project and now have much more
hope for their future.”
History has told us time and
again that you need more than
a famous racing name to have a
successful F1 career (Bruno Senna,
Nelson Piquet junior and Michael
Andretti immediately spring to mind),
and in his very first Grand Prix,
Rosberg answered his doubters
emphatically. Despite losing his
nose cone on the first lap in Bahrain,
he showed remarkable maturity to
recover to finish seventh, making
history when he became the
youngest driver to set the fastest lap.
After that stunning debut, the
highlights followed as quickly as
Rosberg steered his Williams around
the track. In 2007, he outscored his
far more experienced team-mate
Alexander Wurz. A year later, he
recorded his first podium finish in
Melbourne. In 2009, he scored
every point for Williams.
By then it was clear that
Rosberg had outgrown his largely
uncompetitive team, and in October
that year Mercedes paid him the
ultimate compliment when he was
announced as the first driver for
their new team for 2010. “No other
brand in Formula One has such
a long and successful tradition,”
Rosberg said at the time. “I think I
Right: Rosberg has been with
his girlfriend, Vivian for several
years Below: Hamilton and
Rosberg’s friendship has come
under scrutiny this season
July-September 2014 Upward Curve 17
Interview
can make a big step up. This is the
opportunity I’ve been waiting for.”
How big that step would be became
apparent a couple of months later
when Michael Schumacher emerged
from retirement to join Mercedes.
Yet far from being daunted by
going head-to-head with the most
successful driver in F1 history,
Rosberg consistently outperformed
his countryman in both qualifying
and races, scoring points in
15 races. That pattern continued
the following season as the younger
German again got the better of his
team-mate, finishing seventh in
the overall standings.
“I didn’t know how it was going to go
with Michael,” Rosberg says. “All of a
sudden, there was the best driver of
all time next to me in the same car.
It proved a very positive experience.
I’m really pleased I beat him in all
three years. I am sure it was an
important step in my career.”
As important as it was,
one glaring omission remained
on his CV: a Grand Prix win. In the
Rosberg family, though, evidently
good things come to those who wait.
Keke finished on top of the podium
18 Upward Curve July-September 2014
for the first time in his fifth season,
and Nico’s crowning moment finally
arrived in his 111th race.
In truth, the result was rarely
in doubt as Rosberg outclassed the
entire field at the 2012 China
Grand Prix. It was a historic
moment for Mercedes, who
enjoyed their first success since
1955, as well as for the Rosberg
family with Nico becoming the first
son of a living Grand Prix winner
to emulate the feat.
The race continues to evoke
fond memories. “As the race went
on I started to feel, ‘Wow, I am very
strong’. Actually, I realised that the
others weren’t able to go any faster,”
he says. “The moment when I really
realised that it could be my first win
was when I was catching Jenson
before his last stop. I had already
done mine and calculation-wise it
was very unlikely that he would be
able to catch me, should I stay out of
trouble. It was the perfect weekend,
it was simply great.”
Two more victories followed in
2013 when Rosberg was reunited
with his old sparring partner,
Hamilton. Together, the team-mates
propelled Mercedes to their best
finish of second in the constructors’
championship, setting them up
perfectly for a title challenge in 2014.
The season has been a story
of total domination. Since they first
appeared in Jerez for the start of
winter testing, Mercedes have held
the upper hand over their rivals,
some of whom barely managed
to put a car on the track back in
January. Rosberg and Hamilton
won the first six races, including
five one-two finishes. By the time
the F1 roadshow arrived in Austria
for the main European part of the
season, the ultra-consistent German
held a 22-point lead over the Briton,
having completed every race and not
finished lower than second. There
was clear daylight in the Mercedes
rearview mirrors to the rest of the
field, making it increasingly likely that
the childhood friends would decide
the destiny of the world title.
That friendship has inevitably
come under scrutiny as the two
drivers, free from the restrictions
of team orders, have fought out
some thrilling duels, most notably in
Bahrain where they swapped places
on several occasions and came
within inches of colliding. It brought
back memories of their go-karting
scraps 14 years earlier.
On that occasion, Hamilton had
taken the honours, but when asked
who would emerge victorious this
time, Rosberg leaves no one in any
doubt: “It’s my turn now.” ■
Left: Rosberg has dominated
Formula One this season
Below: Rosberg’s crowning
moment was at the 2012 China
Grand Prix, when he finally
became a Grand Prix champion