Rosberg prepares for Williams test

This year Christmas will come early for Nico Rosberg. On 3 December 2002 the 17-year-old Finn will take the wheel of the WilliamsF1 BMW FW24 on the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, Spain. In the past season, the son of ex- Formula One World Champion Keke Rosberg secured an early title in the Formula BMW ADAC Championship with nine victories in 20 races. He was competing against a field of 28 participants from nine countries.

"It was such a superlative performance," said former Formula One driver and current BMW Motorsport Director Gerhard Berger, "That we want to give Nico the special opportunity of a Formula One test drive." BMW has been involved in talent promotion in Formula racing since 1991. Ralf Schumacher, now a team driver for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, also learnt the basics of Formula racing with BMW power.

Nico Rosberg was born in Wiesbaden, the German home town of his mother Sina, on 27 June 1985. He grew up in Monte Carlo and Ibiza. At the age of nine Nico was given his first go-kart and went on to win his first championship title aged eleven. Following that, he spent two years driving in the Italian Junior Class, in which he claimed the runner-up position. In between he launched a successful debut in North America and drew attention to himself in the European Kart Championship by taking several pole positions.

In 1999 the multilingual junior racing driver came second in the Europe-wide Formula A before switching to Formula Super A, the pinnacle of kart racing, where he earned several notable successes, primarily in wet conditions. In 2002, he made the leap into car racing with evident ease and dominated the Formula BMW ADAC Championship. Now he is about to get behind the wheel of a Formula One racing car before reaching the age of majority.

Ahead of his test drive, the blond Finn will be flying to WilliamsF1 at Grove in England for a seat fitting and briefing.

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