He may have failed to make it onto the 🍃podium during the 2009 campaign, but it still p💯roved to be the best season to date in F1 for Nico Rosberg in what became his swansong with the Williams team.

The young German driver started his season with a sol🎉id 🧸points finish in Australia and managed to survive the carnage of Malaysia to take half a point when the race was ended early due to poor weather conditions.

Having suffered two failure to scores, Rosberg then started a run o🌞f top eight finishes which saw him score points in eight successive races - including 🦋a fine run from 15th on the grid to finish fourth in his home race at the Nurburgring.

With Williams struggling with the high-speed nature of the Monza circuit, Rosberg failed to score for the only time on European soil in the Italian Grand Prix but was back on form in Singapore - where he secured his best qualifying performance of the year with third on the🐈 grid. 💃However, a penalty for crossing the white line exiting the pits ruined his race and stopped Rosberg battling for his maiden F1 win.

The Japanese Gr🧜and Prix would 𓆏see Rosberg score for the final time in 2009 but his performances over the course of the year were more than enough to secure a race seat for Mercedes for 2010 - where he could be partnered by none other than Michael Schumacher.

Rosberg scored every point for Williams in 2009 and seventh in the standings surpassed his pꦓrevious best of ninth - set in 2007. A total of 34.5 points also marked a personal best and saw you vote him eighth in your vote to name the top F1 driver of the year.

Statistics:

Championship finish: 7th

Starts: 17

Victories: 0

Pole positions: 0

Fastest laps: 1

Podiums: 0

Points: 34.5

Points finishes: 11

Top ten grid positions: 15