Career Stats Team Williams Nationality German Podiums 0 Points 24 Grand Prix entered 35 World Championships 0 Highest race finish 4th Highest grid position 3rd Date of Birth 27/06/1985 Place of Birth Wiesbaden

He may not have managed a podium finish in his first two seasons of Formula 1, but Nico Rosberg has already proved he will be at the forefront of the next generation of superstars.

The 22-year-old's speed and fighting spirit is reminiscent of his former world champion father Keke, and he has played a major role in Williams' recent revival.

Rosberg is now so highly regarded that he was the clear favourite to take Fernando Alonso's McLaren seat when the Spaniard's relationship with the team disintegrated.

But to his credit, Rosberg swiftly declared that he would honour his Williams contract, and is convinced he can reach the top with his current team.

Last year saw Rosberg round off the rough edges of his promising debut season and spearhead Williams' recovery to fourth in the constructors' championship.

He demonstrated his qualifying pace with ten top ten starts, and his racing prowess with a spectacular charge to fourth at the finale.

With Williams on an upward trajectory, Rosberg is determined to maintain his momentum through 2008.

Career log

Rosberg's relationship with Williams dates back to a test in December 2002, when he was only 17 years old.

At the time it was considered more of a publicity stunt than an audition, but in fact it served both purposes – gaining plenty of press for Williams, and alerting them to Rosberg's enormous potential.

His on-track pace was impressive enough, but it was young Nico's brainpower that really wowed the team.

All new Williams drivers have to sit a written exam to assess their technical understanding – and Rosberg scored better on the paper than anyone before or since.

Far from being a one-off photo opportunity, that initial test was the first of many runs for Williams, and by 2006 he had been promoted to the race team.

Rosberg made a spectacular start to his F1 career by setting fastest lap as he charged from last to seventh following a first corner tangle in Bahrain.

2006 would ultimately turn out to be Williams' worst campaign since the 1970s.

But in-between the disappointments and reliability problems, Rosberg continued to impress.

Although there were the inevitable rookie blips – like when he took out team-mate Mark Webber in Brazil and then had a monumental accident after deciding not to pit and check for damage – he did enough to demonstrate his star quality and set himself up for a breakthrough 2007.

The early years

After starring in karts and dominating the German Formula BMW series in his teens, Rosberg spent two seasons in the Formula 3 Euroseries, where he won races but didn't fulfil his potential.

That blip was soon forgotten when Rosberg moved up to the new GP2 series in 2005.

By mid-season, the hard-charging German and his ART team were the class of the field.

He snatched the title from season-long points leader Heikki Kovalainen at the final meeting, and was confirmed as a 2006 Williams driver soon afterwards.

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