Brawn

Full name	Brawn GP Formula One Team
Base	Brackley, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Founder(s)	Ross Brawn
Noted staff	Ross Brawn Nick Fry Loïc Bigois Jörg Zander
Noted drivers	Jenson Button Rubens Barrichello
Previous name	Honda Racing F1 Team
Subsequent name	Mercedes GP Formula One Team
Formula One World Championship career
Engines	Mercedes-Benz FO 108W
Debut	2009 Australian Grand Prix
Races competed	17
Constructors' Championships	1 (2009)
Drivers' Championships	1 (2009)
Race victories	8
Podiums	15
Pole positions	5
Fastest laps	4
Final race	2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Brawn GP Formula One Team, the trading name of Brawn GP Limited, was a Formula One motor racing team and constructor, created by a management buyout of Honda Racing F1 Team. It only competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team clinched that year's constructors' championship, and Button took the drivers' title. For 2010, the team again changed identity, becoming Mercedes GP.

On its racing debut, the season-opening 2009 Australian Grand Prix, the team took pole position and 2nd place in qualifying and went on to finish first and second in the race. Button won six of the first seven races of the season and on 18 October at the Brazilian Grand Prix, he secured the 2009 Drivers' Championship and the team won the Constructors' Championship. Barrichello won twice and finished third in the Drivers' Championship. The team won eight of the season's seventeen races, and by winning both titles in its only year of competition became the first to achieve a 100% championship success rate.

On 16 November 2009 it was confirmed that the team's engine supplier, Mercedes-Benz, in partnership with Aabar Investments had purchased a 75.1% stake in Brawn GP (Mercedes: 45.1%; Aabar: 30%),^[1] which was renamed Mercedes GP for the 2010 season.^[2]

History[link]

Origin[link]

Brawn GP was formed on 6 March 2009 when it was confirmed that Ross Brawn, the former technical director for the Honda Racing F1 Team, Ferrari and Benetton teams, had bought the team from Honda^[3] in the wake of the Japanese marque's withdrawal from the sport in December 2008. On 17 March 2009 the FIA officially agreed to the name change from Honda Racing F1 Team to Brawn GP. Although the team can be seen as a continuation of the Honda team (arguably the 4th incarnation of Tyrrell/BAR/Honda), the FIA considered Brawn GP to be an entirely new entry, but Keith Hayes, Vice President of FIA, agreed to waive the standard entry fee in recognition of the team's circumstances.^[4]

With the loss of Honda's engines, Ross Brawn stated that several manufacturers offered to supply the team's engines, but it was the Mercedes-Benz engines that best fitted the car^[5] with Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello comprising the driver line-up.

Although Honda were thought to be the first team to run a KERS in 2008,^[6] Ross Brawn stated in an interview that owing to the circumstances of the change in ownership the team had not had the time to develop the system.^[7] On 20 March it was confirmed that Brawn GP would be allocated the final pitlane slot, with Force India moving up one slot. Bernie Ecclestone suggested that this was due to the takeover involving a name change, saying that "If ... it was called Honda ... [w]hatever was due to Honda, they [Brawn GP] would have got."^[8] For this reason Brawn GP were initially assigned numbers 20 and 21 after Force India were assigned Honda's old numbers of 18 and 19. This however was changed at the request of Force India because their promotional material had already been printed with numbers 20 and 21. Brawn had no objection and were reassigned numbers 22 and 23, with 18 and 19 not assigned to anyone.^[9]

2009 race season[link]

Jenson Button en route to his win at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The team started off strongly on the Friday Practice of the Australian Grand Prix finishing in the top five. In qualifying at Australia Jenson Button took pole, with teammate Rubens Barrichello coming 2nd, followed by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.^[10] This was followed by a race win for Jenson Button, who led from start to finish, with Rubens Barrichello second^[11] giving Brawn a 1-2 finish on their debut, which had not happened since Mercedes did it in the 1954 French Grand Prix.^[12]

Jenson Button won the rain-shortened Malaysian Grand Prix from pole and picked up the fastest lap.^[13] With the win in Malaysia, Brawn GP became the only new constructor to win their first two races since Alfa Romeo won the first ever two World Championship Grands Prix at the 1950 British Grand Prix and Monaco Grand Prix.^[14]

At the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix Barrichello qualified in front of Button for the first time this season but in the rain Jenson Button finished 3rd with Rubens Barrichello 4th behind the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.^[15]

Rubens Barrichello in Monaco.

Button won again at the Bahrain Grand Prix from fourth on the grid with Barrichello in fifth from sixth. Button ran most of the race in clean air and maintained the lead after the Toyotas pitted and fell down the order. This was the first time they were slower, with the fuel corrected qualifying times, in the season and was blamed on the lack of development on the car.^[16]

At the 2009 Spanish Grand Prix, Brawn achieved their second 1-2 of the season with Button leading home Barrichello again. Brawn's fourth win saw them overtake Honda on the all-time wins list.^[17]

Button at the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix.

At the Monaco Grand Prix the same qualifying results as in Spain were achieved with Button on pole. Button led Barrichello, who'd overtaken Kimi Räikkönen off the line, into the first corner with Button leading Barrichello, Räikkönen and Felipe Massa for the majority of the race. Button took Brawn's third 1-2 and his first hat trick of wins.^[18]

At the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix the Brawns were beaten to pole by Vettel after struggling with pace throughout Friday and Saturday, for Button especially. At the start, Barrichello's anti-stall cut in and he fell to the back of the grid; Button meanwhile, after pointing the car at Vettel got off cleanly and inherited the lead at turn 10 when Vettel ran wide. Button lead the race calmly for the rest of the race with his team mate having many incidents before giving Brawn their first retirement after losing seventh gear.^[19]

At the British Grand Prix both drivers struggled for the team’s home race. The car couldn't heat up the tyres enough and both drivers struggled with balance issues. Button had his worst qualifying of the season in sixth with Barrichello achieving second. In the race neither of the drivers shone and both had rather quiet races to third and sixth with Button having a late surge.^[20]

At the German Grand Prix the team suffered the same fate as in Britain as both drivers suffered with tyre temperatures.^[21] The team qualified light as to get onto the front row and qualified behind Webber in second and third, respectively.^[22] Despite leading in the first stint, Barrichello finished sixth after a faulty fuel rig ruined his race. Button ran in the low points after getting stuck behind Kovalainen and managed to overtake Barrichello to finish fifth after the team inverted their pit-stop laps to lessen his disadvantage to contenders Webber and Vettel who finished first and second respectively.^[23]

At the Hungarian Grand Prix Brawn suffered the same uncompetitiveness after experiencing their worst qualifying of the season with Button in eighth and Barrichello in thirteenth, respectively. Although, the reason for Barrichello's underperformance was caused by his rear suspension failing resulting in a spring falling off and subsequently striking Ferrari's Felipe Massa on the helmet resulting in serious head injuries. Button too was affected by this as his car spent most of Q3 being checked to make sure the same components would not fail and ended up qualifying with much more fuel than planned. In the race neither driver showed much pace although when the temperatures hit 40^oC Button was the fastest man on the track at that point. Button managed to repass Trulli through the final pit stops and pick up seventh with his teammate in tenth closely behind Nakajima and Trulli.^[24]

At the European Grand Prix, Barrichello won for the first time in five years, one of the longest gaps between Grand Prix victories in Formula One history. Barrichello started third on the grid, behind the rejuvenated McLaren Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen. While Barrichello thrived, Button started 5th on the grid, and finished the race in 7th after the retirement of Sebastian Vettel from 4th.

At the Belgian Grand Prix Button again had a dismal showing and was taken out by Romain Grosjean on the first lap. Barrichello started 4th, but again had a clutch issue at the start, but managed to work his way up to 7th, his car's engine bursting into flames as he entered the pits.

At the Italian Grand Prix, the Brawns were fuelled heavy, and started 5th (Barrichello) and 6th (Button). Both Brawns managed to make it past the heavily fuelled Kovalainen in the opening laps, and both kept up their pace to complete their final one-two of the season, Barrichello in first, Button in second.

At the Singapore Grand Prix, both drivers suffered problems in qualifying, Button failing to make it into the third session.

At the Japanese Grand Prix Brawn had the opportunity to clinch the 2009 Constructors Championship, however the drivers started 6th and 10th. Both drivers had reasonably successful races, eventually finishing 7th and 8th. This left Brawn just half a point from winning Constructors Championship. After the race, the race stewards announced they were investigating Nico Rosberg for excessive speed under safety car conditions. A typical 25-second penalty would have moved both Brawn drivers one place up and the Constructors Championship would have been won, however it was announced later that Rosberg was in the clear and the race result would stand.

At the Brazilian Grand Prix Brawn secured the Constructors Championship as Button finished in 5th place with Barrichello in 8th. In Abu Dhabi, the final race of the season, they finished 3-4 with Button world champion and Barrichello 3rd in the championship.^[25] The team also won the 2010 Laureus World Sports Award for Team of the Year as a result of its success.^[26]

The team had a race win success rate of 47.05% (8 wins in 17 races), and by winning both titles in its only year of competition, the team is the first ever to achieve a 100% championship success rate.

Sale to Mercedes[link]

On 16 November 2009 it was officially announced that Daimler AG in partnership with Aabar Investments had purchased a 75.1% stake in Brawn GP (Daimler AG: 45.1%; Aabar: 30%).^[1] Reports suggest the partnership paid £110m for the 75.1%.^[27] The team would be rebranded as Mercedes GP for 2010. The remaining 24.9% stake is Ross Brawn's in partnership with Nick Fry. The team used the Brawn GP base in Brackley for its operations and Brawn stayed on as team principal.^[1]

BGP 001[link]

The Brawn BGP 001 during testing.

The BGP001 was originally designed with the intention of becoming the Honda RA109. In fact, owing to the poor performance of the Honda team in 2008, the team made a relatively early start in designing the 2009 car. However, following Honda's withdrawal, development of the car continued, in the hope that the team would be somehow rescued.

Eventually, the car was appropriated by the newly-formed Brawn GP team, and modified to accommodate a Mercedes-Benz engine in place of the expected Honda engine. Jenson Button performed its shakedown – the car featuring white, fluorescent chartreuse yellow and black colours.^[28] The team gave the BGP 001 its first test at Circuit de Catalunya on 9 March 2009, topping the timesheets many times.^[29] With the testing moving to Circuito de Jerez, Brawn GP continued to set the pace, finishing the test leading two of the three tests.^[30] During an interview Brawn said there was more speed to come after he explained that '...The BGP 001 car is the result of 15 months of intensive development work and the team have been nothing less than fantastic in their commitment to producing two cars in time for the first race'.^[31] At the first race an official complaint was launched by four teams against the rear diffusers of the Williams FW31, Toyota TF109 and the Brawn BGP 001 on the grounds that they did not fall within the dimensions set out in the regulations,^[32] but after analysing the cars the race stewards reported that the cars were legal. This ruling was appealed and the appeal was heard after the second race of the season.^[33] However motorsport's governing body ruled that the car was legal.^[34] There was another complaint at Malaysia after which BMW Sauber joined the appeal after they were deemed legal, again.^[35] After the appeal the diffuser was deemed legal by the FIA.^[36] In Spain, the car received its first upgrades since Australia which were mainly to do with the different cooling requirements of the Mercedes engine^[37] and gave Brawn a 1-2, just as in Melbourne.

Jenson Button used a single Brawn BGP001 during the 2009 season, making the chassis designated "BGP 001-02" one of the most successful F1 chassis of all time (Rubens Barrichello drove the chassis "BGP 001-01" until it was damaged in a qualifying accident at the Singapore Grand Prix, after which he used "BGP 001-03" for the rest of the season). Jenson Button retains ownership of chassis BGP 001-02 as a condition of his contract with Brawn GP in the eventuality that he won the championship.^{[citation needed]}

Sponsorship[link]

The Brawn BGP 001 with the Terminator livery.

The Brawn GP motor home hosted the team and its sponsors at most races.

The sponsors that were still with the Honda team at the end of the 2008 season, including Bridgestone, stayed on as sponsors for the start of the 2009 season.

On 26 March 2009, Brawn GP announced a partnership with British clothing manufacturer Henri Lloyd. The company agreed to supply the team with clothing and footwear, with their brand appearing on the BGP 001.^[38] On 28 March 2009 Sir Richard Branson announced Virgin as a major sponsor for the team.^[39] On April 17 Brawn announced an agreement with MIG Investments, who would sport their logo on the front of the car.^[40] It was also confirmed on April 19 that Ray-Ban, a sunglasses manufacturer, would carry on sponsoring the team - their logo appears on the drivers' helmets.^[41] At the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix Virgin sported their Virgin Galactic logo instead of Virgin.^[42] The team re-signed Endless Advance^[43] and NCE Corporation^[44] and signed a new supplier deal with safety harness supplier Willans before the Spanish Grand Prix.^[45] Only for the Spanish Grand Prix, Sony Pictures joined the team with the cars featuring promotional imagery from the upcoming film Terminator Salvation.^[46] At the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix, Google co-founder Larry Page was rumoured to be in talks with Brawn to sponsor the team in 2010. Although a guest of McLaren-Mercedes, Page is believed to want the Google name to appear on a race-winning team.^[47] The team took up sponsorship from Graham-London before the British Grand Prix, with their logo being shown on the BGP 001s' wing mirrors. In addition, Monster Energy added their logo to Button's helmet from Silverstone onwards.^[48] However, Richard Branson indicated that Virgin were unlikely to continue their deal next season, citing cost as a hurdle.^[49] For the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, the BGP001 sported the Italian zipper company Raccagni logo and name on the side wings in front of the side-pods.

Jenson Button driving at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

For the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix, Brawn GP secured a sponsorship deal with Canon.^[50]

For the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix, Brawn GP secured a single race sponsorship deal with Angfa Co. Ltd, maker of the medical shampoo Scalp-D, which has proved very popular in Japan since its launch in 2005.^[51]

For the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix, the event in which they won the Constructors' Championship, Brawn GP had deals with Banco do Brasil and Petrópolis brewery to display their colours and beer brand Itaipava and TNT energy drink on both cars.^[52] They also had a one-race partnership with Spanish insurance company Mapfre.^[53]

For the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the team had a deal with Qatar Telecom.^{[citation needed]}

Complete Formula One results[link]

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
2009	Brawn BGP 001	Mercedes-Benz FO 108W	B		AUS	MAL‡	CHN	BHR	ESP	MON	TUR	GBR	GER	HUN	EUR	BEL	ITA	SIN	JPN	BRA	ABU	172	1st
				Jenson Button	1	1	3	1	1	1	1	6	5	7	7	Ret	2	5	8	5	3
				Rubens Barrichello	2	5	4	5	2	2	Ret	3	6	10	1	7	1	6	7	8	4

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Brawn GP

Wikinews has related news: Brawn team on the front row as 2009 Formula One season starts in Melbourne

Wikinews has related news: Daimler acquired a stake in winning team Brawn GP, changes its name to Mercedes Grand Prix

• Brawn GP profile at Formula1.com

v t e Brawn GP Personnel: Ross Brawn | Nick Fry | Loïc Bigois | Jörg Zander World Champions:  Jenson Button Other noted drivers: Rubens Barrichello Formula One cars: BGP 001

Coordinates: 52°01′19″N 1°08′42″W / 52.02194°N 1.145°W / 52.02194; -1.145

Carlos Pace

Bust of Pace at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace
Born	(1944-10-06)6 October 1944 São Paulo, Brazil
Died	18 March 1977(1977-03-18) (aged 32) Mairiporã, Brazil
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Brazilian
Active years	1972 – 1977
Teams	Williams, Surtees, Brabham
Races	73 (72 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	1
Podiums	6
Career points	58
Pole positions	1
Fastest laps	5
First race	1972 South African Grand Prix
First win	1975 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last win	1975 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last race	1977 South African Grand Prix

José Carlos Pace (October 6, 1944 in São Paulo – March 18, 1977 near São Paulo) was a racing driver from Brazil. He participated in 73 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on March 4, 1972. He won one race, achieved six podiums, and scored a total of 58 championship points. He also secured one pole position.

Career[link]

Pace driving a Ferrari 312PB at the Nürburgring in 1973.

Pace was a contemporary of the Fittipaldi brothers, Wilson and Emerson, and began racing in Brazil in the late 1960s. He travelled to Europe in 1970 and competed in British Formula Three, winning the Forward Trust championship in a Lotus car. In 1971 he moved up to Formula Two with Frank Williams, but did not score any points from six races. Nevertheless, he moved up to Formula One in 1972, competing with a Williams-entered March. He scored points on two occasions and finished eighteenth in the Drivers' Championship. His best result came at the non-championship Victory Race, in which he finished in second position. He also competed in some further F2 and Can-Am races.

For 1973, Pace moved to the Surtees team and improved to eleventh place in the championship after scoring a fourth place in Germany and his first championship podium finish with third in Austria. He also set the fastest lap in both of these events. He also competed in three F2 races for Surtees, but his main racing activities outside F1 were in the World Sportscar Championship, in which he drove for the works Ferrari team. Sharing a 312PB with Arturo Merzario, the duo finished second at the Nürburgring and at Le Mans (after starting in pole position for the latter event), and third at Watkins Glen.

He remained with Surtees for 1974 and scored a fourth-place finish in Brazil, but parted company with the outfit mid-season after falling out with the founder, John Surtees. He drove a privately-entered Brabham for Goldie Hexagon Racing at the French Grand Prix but failed to qualify, before moving to the works team alongside namesake Carlos Reutemann for the next race. After initially struggling with the new machinery, he finished fifth and set the fastest lap at Monza, and repeated the feat on his way to second, behind Reutemann, at Watkins Glen, securing a one-two finish for Brabham.

Pace at the Nürburgring in 1973.

The Brabham team's BT44B chassis were competitive throughout the 1975 season, allowing Pace and Reutemann to feature at the front of the grid. Pace duly took his first and only Formula One victory in front of his home crowd at the Brazilian Grand Prix, took his first pole position at the following race in South Africa, and also finished on the podium at Monaco and Silverstone, ending the season sixth overall in the Drivers' Championship and helping Brabham to second in the Constructors' Championship, behind Ferrari.

He remained with Brabham for 1976, but the car was much less competitive due to a change of engine, from Ford-Cosworth to Alfa Romeo. The Italian V12 units were larger, heavier, less reliable and less economical than their V8 predecessors, restricting Pace to fourteenth place in the championship, whilst Reutemann left the team before the end of the season.

By the start of the 1977 season, the competitiveness and durability of the Alfa engines had been much improved for Pace and his new team-mate, John Watson. He demonstrated this fact by taking second position at the season opener in Argentina, and running strongly in the next two Grands Prix before suffering from mechanical trouble, but he was unable to capitalise on the improved performance for the rest of the season due to his sudden death.

Death and honours[link]

Pace was killed in a light aircraft accident in early 1977, which occurred days after the deaths of fellow F1 driver Tom Pryce and marshal Jansen Van Vuuren in the 1977 South African Grand Prix.^[1] The Interlagos track, the scene of his only F1 win in 1975, was renamed Autódromo José Carlos Pace in his honour. Pace is buried in Cemitério do Araça, São Paulo.

In the 1977 motorsport film Bobby Deerfield, the eponymous title character is represented by Pace in the racing scenes.

Complete Formula One World Championship results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position / Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2009)

Books[link]

• Henry, Alan (1985). Brabham, the Grand Prix Cars. Osprey. ISBN 0-905138-36-8. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: José Carlos Pace

• Pace's profile at Motorsportmemorial.org

Nico Rosberg

Rosberg at the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix
Born	(1985-06-27) 27 June 1985 (age 26) Wiesbaden, West Germany
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	German
2012 team	Mercedes
2012 car #	8
Races	114
Championships	0
Wins	1
Podiums	7
Career points	365.5
Pole positions	1
Fastest laps	2
First race	2006 Bahrain Grand Prix
First win	2012 Chinese Grand Prix
Last win	2012 Chinese Grand Prix
Last race	2012 Monaco Grand Prix
2011 position	7th (89 pts)

Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985 in Wiesbaden, West Germany) is a racing driver for the Mercedes GP Formula One team. He races under the German flag in Formula One, although he competed for Finland earlier in his career. He holds dual nationality of these two countries.^[1]

Rosberg won the 2005 GP2 Series for the ART team, having raced in Formula 3 Euro Series previously for his father's team.

For the 2010 Formula One season, Rosberg joined the re-branded Mercedes team, formed by Mercedes' takeover of 2009 constructors' champions Brawn GP.

Early and personal life[link]

The son of Finnish 1982 Formula One World Champion Keke Rosberg and his German wife Sina, Nico spent much of his youth in Monaco with his family, and still lives in the principality. Rosberg speaks fluent German, English, Italian, Spanish and French but only a little Finnish, though he is learning the language. Rosberg competed under the Finnish and German flags at different times during his early career.^[1] In Formula One, as for all FIA world championships, a driver's nationality is defined by his passport.^[2] Rosberg races under the German flag in Formula One.

Career[link]

1996–2004: Junior Formulae[link]

Rosberg won the 2002 German Formula BMW championship, an important milestone in his racing career.

Rosberg started out in karting in 1996, at the age of 10, where in 2000 he and Lewis Hamilton were teammates.^[3] Rosberg then moved up to German Formula BMW in 2002, where he won the title. His performances resulted in a move to drive for his father's team in Formula 3 Euro Series, a combination of the several national Formula Three championships that had existed prior to its formation. Rosberg did well there, and stayed on for 2004. In early 2004, he got one of his first tastes of Formula One by doing a test session with Williams.^[4]

2005: GP2 – ART Grand Prix[link]

Offered a place on the Aeronautical Engineering course at Imperial College London;^[5] Rosberg declined and in 2005 joined the ART Grand Prix team in the newly created GP2 Series. He went on to become the first driver to win the GP2 title.

Formula One[link]

2006–2009: Williams[link]

2006[link]

Rosberg at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix

In late 2005, Rosberg was officially confirmed as a Williams driver for the 2006 season. In the Engineering Aptitude Test, administered to all new Williams drivers, Rosberg achieved the highest score in the team's history.^[6] In the first Formula One race of his young career in Bahrain, Rosberg was driving a car which was not considered competitive enough to get to the podium.^[7] and also had to fight his way through the field after losing his nose cone on the first lap. Nonetheless, he finished in the points, seventh behind teammate Mark Webber, and recorded the fastest lap, becoming the youngest driver to do so in F1 history. Following this he was linked with a move to teams such as McLaren.^{[citation needed]}

He qualified third at the next round Malaysia, but his Cosworth engine, on its second mandatory race, blew up after only seven laps. Rosberg did get into the points for the second time in the 2006 season at the European Grand Prix, benefiting from the hydraulic failure of his teammate.

The rest of the 2006 season went less well for Rosberg; he retired in four of the next seven Grand Prix, and in the ones he did finish he was outside the points. His closest attempt to get into the points was in Britain, where he was just one second behind eighth placed Jacques Villeneuve. Rosberg scored a total of four points, three fewer than teammate Webber, over the course of what was a disappointing season for both himself and for the Williams team.

2007[link]

Rosberg at the 2007 British Grand Prix

Williams brought in new Toyota engines for 2007, along with a new team-mate, Alexander Wurz. Rosberg's old team-mate, Mark Webber, had moved to partner David Coulthard at Red Bull Racing. Initially, the Toyota powered FW29 showed potential in the pre-season test sessions.^[8] However, Rosberg remained realistic: "in F1 you cannot normally just jump back to the front [of the grid] from one year to the next".^[9]

Rosberg scored his best result of 2007 with fourth place at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix, overtaking both BMW Saubers in the process.

In 2007, Rosberg finished in the points seven times, including a career best fourth at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. He also placed seventh in the Australian, Hungarian and Turkish Grands Prix and came home sixth at the Italian and Belgian Grands Prix. At the Canadian Grand Prix, Rosberg qualified seventh and moved up two places from the start:

"Early in the race I thought I was set for a good result because I was running fifth and the car felt really good, but then the Safety Car came out on lap 21... I had to stop for fuel on lap 23, which meant I missed the re-fuelling window by 13 seconds and that effectively ended my race. New rules punish people who pit immediately after the Safety Car comes out, so I was given a 10s stop-go penalty and all I could manage after that was 10th place."^[10]

He suffered only three retirements during 2007; hydraulic failure 14 laps from home in Malaysia and an oil leak at the US Grand Prix five laps from the finish (although classified 16th), where he was on course for sixth place. He had started the race 14th having "glazed" his brakes during qualifying, therefore damaging his confidence. An electronics glitch also put him out of the Japanese Grand Prix.

During the first half of 2007 season, Rosberg saw his teammate Alexander Wurz score more points, but later in the season Rosberg passed Wurz in world championship points, eventually more than quadrupling his 2006 points haul with 20 points.

2008[link]

Rosberg secured the first podium finish of his career with a strong drive to third place at the 2008 Australian Grand Prix. However, the remainder of the season was more of a struggle. He was given a 10 place grid penalty for the French Grand Prix, as a result of crashing into the back of Lewis Hamilton in the pit lane at the Canadian Grand Prix, despite only his race being affected by the incident as Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen were already eliminated.

In September he finished second to Fernando Alonso in the floodlit Singapore Grand Prix after leading a Grand Prix for the first time in his career. This result was despite incurring a 10-second stop-go penalty for pitting while the pitlane was closed immediately after the deployment of the safety car. However, as what appeared to be a simple administrative formality took ten laps to issue, and the slow car of Giancarlo Fisichella was between Rosberg and the next competitive car during those laps, he did not lose much time and rejoined fifth, whereas Robert Kubica dropped from fourth to last on the same penalty for the same offence.

2009[link]

Rosberg driving for Williams at the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix

Rosberg had a solid season in 2009, scoring points at almost every race and also consistently qualifying in the top ten. He opened the season with a solid 6th place in Melbourne, before fading somewhat in the next three races. From China onwards however, he has only improved, finishing 8th, then 6th, then 5th twice. At his home race in Germany, he put in arguably the best drive of his career, when he overcame fuel problems to climb from 15th on the grid and finish 4th ahead of championship leader Jenson Button. He then followed this up with another 4th place in the Hungarian Grand Prix and 5th in the European Grand Prix. Despite scoring a point in the Belgian Grand Prix, Rosberg's effort to score points at every race in the European season was ended by a lack of pace at Monza. Despite this, Rosberg returned to competitiveness at the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix by qualifying 3rd and putting in the fastest lap of the weekend in Q2 (1:46.197). Despite overtaking Sebastian Vettel off the line, and being on course for 2nd place or even a maiden victory, Rosberg undid all his good work by crossing the white line out of his first pit stop and incurring a drive-through penalty just in time for the safety car. With the field bunched, he dropped to the back, effectively ruining his race. Rosberg apologised to the team afterward, calling his mistake 'silly' and 'stupid'. Rosberg managed to claim 5th place at the Japanese Grand Prix after qualifying 11th and starting in P7 on a good strategy after a number of grid penalties. Soon after the race Jenson Button reported Rosberg to race stewards for speeding under yellow flag conditions, but Rosberg was cleared after stewards discovered that his dashboard display was only showing that he had low fuel. This bagged Rosberg 4 points, putting him in 7th place in the Drivers Championship with 34.5 points and Williams 6th in the constructors. Rosberg scored every point for the Williams team during the 2009 season.

2010–: Mercedes GP[link]

2010[link]

Rosberg driving for Mercedes at the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix

On 29 October 2009 Rosberg announced he was leaving the Williams team at the end of the season. He commented that Williams "have really supported my career over the years and I'd like to say a big thank you to them. However, I'm not sure they can win races at the moment and I would like to".^[11] On 16 November 2009, Brawn GP was bought by Mercedes and re-branded as Mercedes GP for the 2010 Formula One season. On 23 November 2009, Rosberg was announced as the team's first driver.^[12] On 23 December 2009, Michael Schumacher was announced as Rosberg's team-mate, and was given Rosberg's car number (3) because of superstitious reasons.^[13] Despite much hype concerning Schumacher's comeback, Rosberg has currently managed to successfully out-qualify and out-race his team mate at most races. In Malaysia, Rosberg achieved his first front row grid start, having qualified second in a qualifying session disrupted by rain; again out-qualifying Schumacher. He eventually finished third in the race; Mercedes' first podium as a works team since their comeback. His third place at the Chinese Grand Prix provided Rosberg with his second podium in succession, and he momentarily moved into second place in the drivers' standings.

He finished seventh at Monaco, fifth in Turkey and sixth in Canada, but only tenth in the European Grand Prix. However, in the British Grand Prix, Rosberg managed a podium finish in third place by holding off Alonso and then Button. But at the German Grand Prix, Mercedes were once again off the pace, and Rosberg could only finish eighth, ahead of teammate Schumacher. Hungary looked more promising, but he lost a wheel while exiting his pit stop and was forced to retire from a point-scoring position. His race at Spa was more successful, and a race-long duel with Schumacher left Rosberg narrowly ahead of his team mate in sixth. The Italian Grand Prix yielded another consistent finish in fifth, achieved mainly by passing both Red Bulls at the start, and took another fifth place finish in Singapore.

However, he was hit by bad luck in Japan, when under pressure from Schumacher, a wheel detached itself from his car and put Rosberg into the wall. At the inaugural Korean Grand Prix he was even more unfortunate, when while running a strong fourth, he retired from the race after being collected by Mark Webber. Webber had spun into the wall and momentum took him back onto the racing line and left Rosberg with nowhere to go and the two collided. The race at Interlagos was more positive, with Rosberg finishing sixth, despite three pit stops, two of which were taken under safety car conditions which minimised a loss of track position. The following week in Abu Dhabi, Rosberg again pitted under the safety car and this allowed him to finish fourth, a result that secured him seventh in the Drivers' Championship. Rosberg finished 16 of the season's 19 races, of which 15 were points-scoring finishes.

Rosberg at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.

2011[link]

The new Mercedes MGP W02 proved to be very fast in winter testing. In Australia, Rosberg showed his speed until retiring due to a collision with Barrichello. In Malaysia, Rosberg started 9th and finished 12th, meaning that for the first time in his career he failed to score a single point in the opening two races of a season. Rosberg took his first points finish of the season in China, having qualified fourth and finishing fifth, as well as leading fourteen laps during the race.^[14] During the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix, Rosberg overtook Sebastian Vettel during the first lap of the race and led again for 3 laps in total, but then quickly fell down the field and on lap 42 of 44 allowed his teammate Schumacher to pass him for 5th after the team warned him that he should save fuel.^[15]

Rosberg eventually ended the championship in the seventh place for the third time in a row, again above Schumacher in the final standings. However, he had scored no podium finishes during the season, and the gap in terms of points between Rosberg and his teammate decreased from 70 points in 2010 to 13 in 2011. This was partly because the Mercedes MGP W02 generally had nobody to compete with, with Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari having superior cars and other teams being more slow-paced than MGP W02.^[16] Rosberg himself pointed to the fact that due to the new Pirelli tyres and the Drag Reduction System, introduced in 2011, overtaking had become more possible and qualifying – where he still had beaten Schumacher 16:3 – had lost its importance.^[17] Despite that, he praised DRS, stating that it could turn out to be one of the best rules in Formula One history.^[18]

2012[link]

Rosberg at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix

Rosberg finished outside the points in the first two races of the season in Australia and Malaysia, finishing twelfth and thirteenth respectively. At the Chinese Grand Prix, Rosberg gained the first pole position of his career, beating Lewis Hamilton's qualifying time by over half a second.^[19] Rosberg took advantage of his grid position to storm to his maiden victory finishing over 20 seconds ahead of second-placed Jenson Button who fell back after a pit-stop error. In this way Rosberg took his first points of the season and Mercedes' first win since Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, prior to their withdrawal from the sport.^[20] In addition to that, Rosberg became the first German driver to win a Grand Prix driving a German car in Formula 1 history.

Records and achievements[link]

• Youngest driver to set the fastest lap: 20 years, 258 days in 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix

Racing record[link]

Career summary[link]

^* Season in progress.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Series results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance completed.
^* Season in progress.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nico Rosberg

• Nico Rosberg official website
• Profile – from Mercedes GP official website
• Profile and statistics
• Racing career
• Nico Rosberg on Twitter
• Nico Rosberg at the Internet Movie Database

v t e  Mercedes-Benz in Formula One Current personnel: Bob Bell · Ross Brawn · Jock Clear · Aldo Costa  · Nick Fry · Norbert Haug · James Vowles · Geoff Willis Former personnel (1950s): Alfred Neubauer · Max Sailer · Rudolf Uhlenhaut Race drivers: 7. Michael Schumacher · 8. Nico Rosberg Test drivers: Sam Bird World Champions: Juan Manuel Fangio European Champions: Rudolf Caracciola Notable drivers: Louis Chiron · Luigi Fagioli · Hans Herrmann · Karl Kling · Hermann Lang · Stirling Moss · Richard Seaman · Manfred von Brauchitsch Cars Formula One: W196 · MGP W01 · MGP W02 · F1 W03 Grand Prix: W25 · W125 · W154 Voiturette: W165