Twenty years after Keke Rosberg raced for the team his son Nico has joined the Castrol-backed BMW WilliamsF1 squad as a test driver. Just 19 years old, the younger Rosberg now has a real chance of breaking into Grand Prix racing in his own right. A famous team, a famous name and a famous oil…

It’s a remarkable story, and not just because Nico is still so young. The unusual aspect is that Nico’s career has progressed in parallel with that of Nelson Piquet Jr, another son of a former WilliamsF1 World Champion.

Both youngsters were born in Germany in the summer of 1985, and they even spent some time at school together in Monaco. In early 2004 they both tested for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team, but it was Nico who got the call a year later that led to a full time testing role.

Keke drove for Williams between 1982 and 1985, winning the World Championship in his first season. It was inevitable that Nico, who carries German rather than Finnish nationality, wanted to follow him into the sport. He first made his name in karting, and then drove for his father’s team in Formula BMW and European F3, with some success. This year he’s combining the F1 testing with a race drive in the new GP2 series with the new ART organisation, whose co-owner is Nicolas Todt, son of Ferrari boss Jean.

BMW WilliamsF1 already has an experienced test driver in Antonio Pizzonia, and Nico’s job will be to back up the Brazilian and fill in whenever he’s needed. Due to the testing agreement between the teams there will be limited opportunities to run this season, but he should get more mileage over the busy winter period.

“Sam Michael rang me up and asked me if I was free to test with them, and I didn’t have any clashing contracts,” says Nico. “I said no problem, but I’m going to have to think about it for a week or so and then I’ll get back to you. Then I saw my dad and he thought I was joking about needing a week! Of course I said yes…”

Nico had his first ‘official’ outing with the team at Silverstone at the end of April, shortly after the San Marino GP. This time it was another day at the office, whereas in his first outings a year earlier he really had to show what he could do, and not make any mistakes.

“There’s less pressure obviously,” he explains. “You just have to go out and do your job. They didn’t expect me to go out and be quicker than Mark Webber at the beginning, they just said they expected a good pace and these are the things we’re testing. So I just went out and did that.”

Nico acknowledges that he could not have got started without his father’s support, and the fact that Keke took his protégé Mika Hakkinen from obscurity to the World Championship suggests that he knows how to groom a young a talent. But there are also extra pressures.

“There are millions of positives – sponsors, media attention and so on,” says the younger Rosberg. “I’m really lucky to have that. Obviously he’s been a very big help from behind, because he knows a lot about it. He’s also been in the managing side, which is the most important thing for a young driver.

“But being the son of a World Champion also puts a lot of pressure on you, for sure. People see your father as a great racing driver, so somehow they expect that the son has to be good and has to be in the front too. It’s not easy, but all these years it’s been the same. Another thing is that other drivers sometimes see you a bit differently, so it doesn't make life too easy.”

Although he keeps a close eye on his son, Keke knows when to keep his distance. Even when Nico was driving for the family team, the elder Rosberg tried not to get too involved with the day-to-day operation of the car at the circuits.

“He really enjoys it and he wants to come to every race,” adds Nico. “But I’m trying to say ‘Chill out a little bit!’ He has no involvement with the car whatsoever. He’s not stupid, he knows what’s best, and I have a really good engineer. He raced 20 years ago in F1 and things have changed a lot.

“He really trusts me and my engineer to get on with it. I’ve asked him a couple of times to watch on the track, because he’s the one person in the team who doesn’t really have an important role. I asked him to do me a favour and go and check, and he also has the eye for that.

Nico’s learning curve continues this year as he gets to grips with the all-new Formula 1 feeder series GP2. The one-make series has created some exciting racing this season and the 4.0-litre V8-engined Dallara chassis a handful for the drivers. Rosberg scored a second place at the jewel in the crown Monaco event in May and has settled in well to the ART team.

“For this year it was time for me to move on from my father’s team, to get new experiences and learn something new,” he says. “I don’t think it’s good to always be with my dad’s team.”

Nico says he’s happy for the press to build up the story about him and Nelson Jr. This year their friendly rivalry is even more apparent, as for the first time they are contesting the same championship.

“It’s always good,” he says. “Two up and coming sons of World Champions, both doing really well. I think it’s really good for both of us to have this competition going, although from my point of view I try to push it away in my mind and not really bother with it.”

Obviously Nico hopes that a testing deal with WilliamsF1 will lead to a race seat. After all, it worked for Damon Hill, David Coulthard and Juan Pablo Montoya.

“Why not, one day? But for now that’s not my aim. I’m concentrating on GP2. You have to do that, but I don’t have a problem with that. I’m clever enough to understand where the priorities are.”

Is Nico really good enough to emulate his father and make it to the very top? Only time will tell…