FW28

Following the departure of BMW, the team joins forces once again with Cosworth for the new V8 era; it also has a new tyre supplier in Bridgestone. Nico Rosberg, son of 1982 world champion Keke, replaces Nick Heidfeld alongside Mark Webber. Rosberg hits the ground running at the season-opener in Bahrain, where he finishes seventh and sets the fastest lap of the race – the youngest driver in the history of the sport to do so.

But it’s an unrewarding year for the team, in which it finishes eighth in the constructors’ championship – its lowest finishing position since 1978. Rosberg makes history prior to the Chinese Grand Prix when he becomes the first person to drive an F1 car on the streets of China, when he takes his FW28 for a spin around Guangzhou’s business district. The team announces mid-season that Alex Wurz will replace Webber for 2007.

Season Highlight

The Bahrain Grand Prix, in which Mark Webber finishes sixth and Nico Rosberg seventh. Webber’s second position on the grid at Monaco is also special, until he retires from a potential podium position on lap 48.

Fun Fact

Nico Rosberg was offered a place at Imperial College, London, to read aerodynamics before he entered Formula BMW in 2002.