#6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG Petronas

Date of Birth: 27/06/1985 | Nationality: German | Twitter: @nico_rosberg

Career:

Rosberg emerged victorious in the inaugural GP2 Series season in 2005 and stepped up to Formula One with Williams in 2006. His maiden season began brightly as he set the fastest lap on his way to seventh in Bahrain and qualified strongly in Malaysia. More points followed at the Nurburgring but he then failed to score across the remaining 13 races as the team struggled with an uncooperative car and poor reliability.

Williams improved in 2007 and Rosberg finished in the top 10 of the championship, which included a best of fourth place in Brazil. Rosberg twice finished on the podium in high attrition races in 2008 but other results were few and far between. In 2009, Rosberg led the Williams charge almost single-handedly and was a regular points scorer, particularly mid-season, and this captured the attention of Mercedes despite the German being unable to mount the podium.

The German joined Mercedes for 2010 - when the team were the reigning champions - but cutbacks meant that they regressed from race winners to occasional podium contenders. Rosberg stepped onto the rostrum three times but had to settle for seventh in the championship, a feat he repeated in 2011, without a single top four finish.

Mercedes improved in 2012 and Rosberg finally claimed his first pole position and victory in China, courtesy of a brilliant performance. He followed it up with a podium in Monaco but his season rapidly tailed off as Mercedes began to struggle, restricting him to only a handful of points across the final half of the season.

The team improved for 2013 and was consistently near the front. Rosberg impressed early on by claiming three pole positions and stormed to victory at home in Monaco, 30 years after father Keke was triumphant in the principality. He added another win in Britain and claimed a couple more podiums on his way to sixth in the championship.