Nico Rosberg insisted he is enjoying his retirement from Formula 1 and is thriving in his new role as a podcaster, YouTuber and road safety ambassador.
The German retired five days after winning his only world championship in 2016 following a bitter rivalry with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Since then he has reinvented himself, and pinpointed his work with Heineken and Dr Helena Rubinstein on the "When You Drive, Never Drink" campaign as one of his most interesting projects to date. He says:
Road safety is something dear to my heart because I started out with the FIA to promote driver safety globally and from that I moved on to this project with Heineken.
What I like about Heineken is it is not just a campaign it is actually physically implementing changes in bars to encourage designated drivers not to take a drink in bars.
I studied psychology for ten years while I was a driver and here is a psychologist leading the roll-out of changes in bars, so this is really cool with me because I had a close relationship with her, I discussed a lot with her, the behavioral science of it."
Heineken
The campaign is particularly groundbreaking in how it attempts to change behaviors around drink driving, rather than simply issue warnings about the dangers of such an action.
Heineken decided to engage innovation consultancy firm Innovia Technology and Dr Rubinstein, their head of behavioral science, to research ways they could influence attitudes to reduce drink driving.
Rubinstein and her team alighted on four steps to affect change, these being: signing a pledge, making a commitment, gaining social approval and earning rewards for those actions.
They also identified that training bartenders was a crucial part of the process with their of asking whether a person was driving then handing out pledge cards that designated drivers must sign. Fulfilling those can in turn then lead to non-alcoholic drink discounts or free food to satisfy the rewards criteria.
The pilot scheme carried out in the U.K. saw a reduction of drink driving by up 50%, with the team now working to scale the model globally, with similar programs already carried out in Brazil. Dr Rubinstein says:
What Heineken have done that is really different to most alcohol manufacturers is going beyond just communicating that drink driving is bad.
Most companies will have a campaign around safe driving, but they’ll have a short campaign and that is about as far as it goes. It’s a positive intention but it doesn’t change people's behavior.
You have to do more to change behavior, especially if it is habitual behavior and people have got into the habit of it."
Heineken
The campaign is just one of Rosberg's current projects, having launched his own YouTube channel alongside several media commitments and also establishing himself as a prescient investor.
To date, Rosberg has invested in Formula E and electric jet taxi service Lilium among other companies, with green energy a particular area of interest.
Rosberg also revealed his delight at Formula 1 confirming the British Grand Prix would remain at Silverstone for at least five more years, having experienced many highs and lows on the famous circuit.
The 34-year-old picked up his only Silverstone win in 2013, beating out Hamilton, and was delighted at the relationship he had with British fans. He said:
It’s amazing. The British Grand Prix is the epicenter of F1, the most legendary track, the most legendary Grand Prix, the greatest fans, and F1 needs to stay here so it is very special.
For me, my win in 2013 was so special, the fans really embraced my win, they could have been really critical but they really celebrated me so it was really nice.
Especially since I was fighting Lewis it was not a given but they have been really kind to me."
