Factbox on Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg

LONDON (Reuters) - Factbox on Mercedes Formula One driver and title contender Nico Rosberg ahead of Sunday's season-ending race in Abu Dhabi: - - - - Born: Wiesbaden, Germany on June 27, 1985 (29 years old). *Rosberg is the son of Finland's 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg, who won his title with Williams, and German mother Sina. He was born four days after Keke won the USA-East Grand Prix in Detroit. *Rosberg grew up in Monaco and still lives there. * He and current Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton, the championship leader and 2008 world champion, were also team mates in go-karts in 2000. Rosberg tested for the Williams Formula One team in 2004, aged 17 and before he had his driving licence. He joined them in 2006 after becoming the first GP2 champion in 2005. * Rosberg finished in the points on his 2006 F1 debut in Bahrain, taking a seventh place. He also set the fastest lap, becoming the youngest driver to do so aged 20 years, eight months and 13 days. * After ending 2006 in 17th place, Rosberg was ninth overall in 2007. In 2008, he took his first podium finish with third place in the Australian season-opener. In 2009, he finished seventh overall. * Rosberg signed for Mercedes at the end of the 2009 season and became Michael Schumacher's team mate at what had previously been the title-winning Brawn GP team. He scored 142 points to Schumacher's 72 that season. *Rosberg also outscored Schumacher in both 2011 and 2012, taking his first pole and grand prix victory in China in 2012. In 2013, Hamilton replaced the older German and finished the season fourth overall to Rosberg's sixth. * In 2013, Rosberg won the Monaco Grand Prix exactly 20 years after his father had won there. * This season, Rosberg has been on pole 10 times and won five races, the same number that his father won in his entire career. Hamilton has won 10. Rosberg also married his long-time girlfriend Vivian Sibold and extended his Mercedes contract. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Justin Palmer)