Nico Rosberg on the Booming Business of F1 | All-In Live from Miami

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (0:00)
Former F1 driver, champion in 2016, he's getting into the venture business. Please welcome Nico.

**Nico Rosberg** (0:07)
They started the season with 20 drivers, and they would end the season with only 18 of them left.

**Jason Calacanis** (0:12)
Wow.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (0:13)
What was the craziest you've ever been involved in?

**Nico Rosberg** (0:15)
Well, my rival was my teammate. So unfortunately, it really becomes like an enemy in a way.

**David Friedberg** (0:20)
What were your first few deals?

**Nico Rosberg** (0:22)
Eleven labs, for example.

**David Friedberg** (0:23)
Holy shit, good for you.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (0:27)
This used to be an extremely dangerous sport. You had people dying every year in these tiny little cars with no roll cages, et cetera. But over time, it's become incredibly safe. The number of people dying went from a couple dozen a year in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and now it's gotten incredibly safe. How scary is it to drive in those cars? And how do you get over that fear of death?

**Nico Rosberg** (0:53)
First of all, hello, everybody. That's a pretty intense start to the conversation.

**David Friedberg** (0:59)
They suddenly showed me where the cars are.

**Jason Calacanis** (1:00)
Good job interviewing Jay Cal.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (1:03)
I got to get right to it.

**Nico Rosberg** (1:06)
How are you still alive?

**Jason Calacanis** (1:08)
Welcome. How are you?

**David Friedberg** (1:09)
Why haven't you died yet, Nico?

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (1:11)
I looked at that car.

**David Friedberg** (1:12)
Justify yourself.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (1:13)
Why is there no canopy on it? Why is your head exposed? It's so crazy what you're doing or what you did.

**Nico Rosberg** (1:20)
So, no, you're absolutely right. And I know better than most people also, because my father actually was a Formula One racer.

**Jason Calacanis** (1:27)
Yeah.

**Nico Rosberg** (1:27)
And he was racing.

**Jason Calacanis** (1:29)
And a champion.

**Nico Rosberg** (1:29)
I didn't want to say, but yes, he was also a world champion.

**Jason Calacanis** (1:32)
But you're, sorry, I asked you backstage, you're one of only two father son world champions of all time.

**Nico Rosberg** (1:37)
That's true. Pretty incredible. Which is very special.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (1:40)
So, I mean, your dad's out there racing. You're at home with mom, I assume. This has got to be terrifying to watch your dad do this.

**Nico Rosberg** (1:49)
So in his day, they started the season with 20 drivers and they would end the season with only 18 of them left. So it was a 10% chance, more or less, that you wouldn't make it through the season, which is just, that's crazy. I mean, if you do an eight year career, like, what are your odds? Like, that's not looking very good. So they're to your point.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (2:10)
Yeah, it was the death every 100,000 miles. Now it's the death every six, seven million miles.

**Nico Rosberg** (2:15)
I was very lucky, because by the time I came in, they had carbon fiber chassis. They have a roll hoop now, you know, and this protection, this halo around your head, which recently saved a couple of lives in the last five years, because Max Verstappen, who's now the four time world champion at the moment, he landed on Lewis Hamilton's head in Italy with the full car, and it was this halo that saved Lewis Hamilton's life. So we're very, very lucky how the sport has progressed with the safety.

**Jason Calacanis** (2:48)
How did you start driving? How old were you? Because I didn't realize yesterday I go into the suite that we have and they say this kid is 18 years old as a driver. I had no idea that kids that young were driving. How old were you when you started? And at what point did you start to become competitive?

**Nico Rosberg** (3:04)
So it's a bit like with every sport that you have to start very, very young. I started, I was six, I started go-karting, I was six. And then racing, 10 years old. Now they start racing when they're eight years old. So Antonelli, who was on pole position yesterday, the 18-year-old, he started racing when he was eight. He was in my go-karting team when he was 12 So I know him very, very well. And he is a generational talent. But it's very early for him because he's only 18 And he took over the car of the greatest of all time.
Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes to go to Ferrari, and Antonelli took this car from Lewis Hamilton. That is insane pressure.

**David Friedberg** (3:45)
Answer this question if you could. You said generational talent.

**Nico Rosberg** (3:48)