As the new GP2 Series (now known as Formula 2) headed to Bahrain for its title decider, back in late September 2005, it was all to play for between youngsters Nico Rosberg and Heikki Kovalainen.
Reigning World Series by Nissan champion Kovalainen had led the championship over the first 19 contests, until his non-score at Spa-Francorchamps, where the Arden driver spun out of the feature race on the last lap as he tried to overtake Mathias Lauda for eighth place – and reverse-grid pole.
The momentum was firmly with Rosberg, previously an F3 Euro Series frontrunner, who had a slower start to the season but equally became a consistent podium finisher and race winner.
The son of 1982 Formula 1 world champion Keke, Nico Rosberg had considered joining BCN Competicion after the Spanish squad took the runner-up spot in the 2004 F3000 championship, but eventually moved to ART – a key decision, as ART won the teams’ championship while BCN turned out to be a GP2 backmarker.
Nico Rosberg, ART Grand Prix, Heikki Kovalainen, Arden
Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Rosberg was three points ahead of Kovalainen going into the Sakhir round, with 22 points on offer over a full weekend; the German was supreme in qualifying, taking pole with a 0.675s advantage over his second-placed title rival. Kovalainen’s team-mate Nicolas Lapierre was a solid third, with second ART driver Alexandre Premat in fifth.
Rosberg held Kovalainen off at the start, with Lapierre taking second place from his team-mate before gracefully letting him back through, as the safety car neutralised the race after three cars stalled at the start.
As soon as the green flag was waved, Kovalainen followed the safety car into the pitlane for his mandatory stop, which emulated his winning strategy from the Nurburgring feature race, when he triumphed from 17th on the starting grid without a single overtake beyond lap 1, as he simply undercut his rivals.
For that strategy to work, it was imperative for Kovalainen to be quicker – but this time he just wasn’t, and Rosberg comfortably retained his lead, with Premat overtaking the Renault junior for second place.
Rosberg took the win with a 12-second gap on Premat and 18-second margin on Kovalainen, with his lead reaching an unassailable nine points in the championship.
Nico Rosberg, ART Grand Prix
Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd
The reverse-grid sprint race only confirmed Rosberg’s supremacy, as the German fought his way from eighth to victory, while Kovalainen spun out on the first lap.
Rosberg was promoted to a Formula 1 seat by Williams in 2006 and went on to become a world champion with Mercedes at the end of an 11-year career; meanwhile, Kovalainen graduated to F1 with longtime backer Renault in 2007 before moving to McLaren and Lotus/Caterham, taking a single grand prix victory over six full seasons.
Since then, 19 other drivers were crowned in F1’s feeder series (now renamed F2), including Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri.
Fewer of them achieved the feat of winning both races in a weekend despite the sprint race’s reversed grid – just eight: champions Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, Davide Valsecchi and Felipe Drugovich, as well as frontrunners Nelson Piquet Jr, Antonio Giovinazzi, Oliver Bearman and Zane Maloney.
