I also raced in Europe for the first time, helped by the recommendation of Martin Hines to the Italian Top Kart manufacturer and racing team. I had my first European race in Belgium and it was not a great race, but it was just good showing up. I impressed the people from Top Kart and we got another chance to race for them, in Italy. I did my first race in Parma and in the same race was this kid called Nico Rosberg, now a Formula One driver with Williams. I remember we had this awesome race where I was behind him, both of us miles in front of the other guys. I just sat on his tail the whole race, played it cool, and then on the last lap I overtook him on a straight and won the race. That was the day Nico's father, Keke Rosberg, the 1982 Formula One World Champion, came up to me and said, 'That was an awesome race, well done' and that's when my relationship with Nico started. From then on, we became best friends, hanging around with each other all the time throughout our teenage karting years. A few months later we went to Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix. Keke, Nico and I sat down with Ron Dennis. He said to us, 'I'm planning to put together a team. Are you two going to be able to stay friends if we have this team and you're competing against each other?' We said 'Yes' without hesitation and Keke created our own kart team called Team MBM.
Lewis Hamilton on becoming friends with Nico Rosberg (Lewis Hamilton: My Story, 2007)
