Nico Rosberg has explained that his ownership of the Rosberg X Racing team in Extreme E represents the start of his journey as a team boss and owner. The 38-year-old has combined those duties with some punditry work since retiring from F1 off the back of his one and only Drivers’ Championship title in 2016.
Rosberg called time on his F1 career at the height of his powers, rounding off his 2016 campaign with four successive second-place finishes to beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the title and join father Keke Rosberg in the record books as a world champion, before announcing his retirement from the sport after the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Since then Rosberg has been active, albeit from the sidelines in the motorsport community. In 2021 he set up a team in the electric rally championship Extreme E for its inaugural season. His team have since gone on to win two of the first three titles available, with the other one going to the X44 team that is owned by former rival Hamilton.
Discussing his experience during his three years of involvement with Extreme E, Rosberg told City A.M.: “Extreme E is my kind of start as a team boss and owner, it’s been a very successful first three-year journey.
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“My problem is that I’m not ready to dedicate my life to a project like that ever again, as I did as a racing driver, because I appreciate my time at home too much – time with my kids and my wife and my family.
“Life after racing has been a journey of discovery because it was crystal clear before. I know that I want to be involved in something that contributes to society, which is why we are doing Extreme E, and which is why I have Rosberg Philanthropies.”
Rosberg’s desire to avoid the stresses and vigours of life as a racing driver is well-publicised. Talking to Squaremile about the lengths he went to to beat Hamilton, he explained: “My helmet was black because I got rid of the paint, which was 80g,” he revealed.
“My socks stopped at the ankle rather than going up to the knee, because that was another 5g saved on each side; on my racing gloves there was a stitching in not an ideal place because it took away a bit of feel on the clutch, so I got that removed.
“I worked extremely intensely with a sports psychologist, I spent two hours every two days on psychology and even learning philosophy with this teacher. It was all these little details that ultimately made the difference. But that’s what you need to win. That’s the sacrifice.”
