Former Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg retired after the 2016 season, but he’s still enjoying the glamour that comes with being the reigning Formula One world champion.
Rosberg currently is on vacation in California, and while he’s been in the United States, the German has gotten the ultimate tour of Silicon Valley. But hat probably should have been expected, as he recently spent time talking to Los Angeles resident and “Cars 3” star, Owen Wilson, while Wilson was at the British Grand Prix promoting his film.
It was a pleasure chatting to Owen Wilson yesterday. Thanks for the LA recommendations 👌🏼
📸 @paulripke pic.twitter.com/we8qXKDYPG
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 17, 2017
The 32-year-old Rosberg visited some of the tech giants of the world, such as Google and Instagram, while he was in the Golden State. He also stopped by two of Elon Musk’s companies, SpaceX and Tesla, as well as electric motorcycle manufacturer Zero Motorcycle.
Head some great meetings at Tesla today #siliconvalley pic.twitter.com/ezBcbPDko4
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 20, 2017
Instagram HQ is amazing. Thanks for showing me around @mikeyk ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/nFLprxljnQ
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 21, 2017
Meeting and speaking to the guys at @ChargePointnet yesterday was really interesting. Silicon Valley really is awesome 💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/Tm459XMHGe
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 21, 2017
The most epic e-motorcycle ride…
🎥 @paulripke pic.twitter.com/HpDxtFBryu
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 22, 2017
Every street you walk down in California there's another amazing company🚶🏼@SpaceX pic.twitter.com/C7SnG0qBY4
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 24, 2017
I was lucky enough to test out @Waymo's autonomous cars in California this week. I hope they save millions of lives in the future 🚙 pic.twitter.com/QQ3ugc7WKd
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 25, 2017
This was a lot of fun! 😂 pic.twitter.com/muEhr3NHgf
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 25, 2017
After hanging out with tech moguls, Rosberg then visited the place where some of them, such as Musk, started their careers: Stanford University.
It was a privilege to spend time at @Stanford University yesterday. The studying opportunities interest me… 📚 pic.twitter.com/eo5DDQgadM
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 23, 2017
He also had one experience that many soccer fans likely are jealous of when he bumped into Manchester United, which was practicing for its friendly against Real Madrid in Los Angeles on Wednesday. It’s a bit funny, though, that Rosberg essentially traveled around the world to meet the team, despite the fact that Mercedes’ F1 factory in Brackley, England, is roughly a 3-hour drive from Old Trafford.
🎥 When I met the @ManUtd team… pic.twitter.com/q28WzqddFg
— Nico Rosberg (@NicoRosberg) July 23, 2017
It seems pretty coincidental that Rosberg, who still is a Mercedes brand ambassador, visited both EV and electric bike manufacturers the same week the German automaker announced it will join Formula E in 2019. Although Rosberg said he no longer has the motivation to commit to F1’s demanding schedule, we wonder if he is considering making a comeback in the all-electric series, as it has more time between races.