Retired 2016 Formula 1 World Champion Nico Rosberg has announced the formation of the Rosberg Young Drivers Academy, with his former karting mentor, to help young talented drivers at a grassroots level.
With support from Petronas, Rosberg has teamed up with his former karting mentor Dino Chiesa, who led the “Mercedes-Benz McLaren” MBM team for Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in 2000 and 2001.
special day for me. launched the Rosberg Young Driver Academy with Dino. Big thx to our partner @Petronasbrands 🙌🏻 hope we can find/support a future champ together pic.twitter.com/aWx1I7Njll
— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) April 22, 2018
Rosberg said of his new Italy based project, “Dino is the best in the karting world and I believe in the performance of Dino’s own Kart Republic chassis, which we will use.”
“He was my boss in all of my international karting years, and the most successful year was when Lewis and I were on the team, with MBM and Dino leading us to great success.
“We’ve been friends since then, so it’s something special to support the stars of the future together now. We look forward to joining the karting world together.”
The Academy has signed two drivers to get it off the ground, 13-year-old British driver Taylor Barnard and 18-year-old Italian Lorenzo Travisanutto.
Chiesa said of the project, Chiesa added: “Today the development of a driver is not only turning the steering wheel.”
“It’s more than that. It’s more about engineering, marketing and media. That’s why I believe that Nico and I are a good mix to support talent,” added Chiesa.