As a reward for his most consistent season in Formula 3 to date, the 23-year-old was already crowned as the FIA Formula 3 European Champion with three races remaining.

“Winning the FIA Formula 3 European Championship title has been my dream for years. Therefore, it is all the more beautiful that I have finally pulled it off. This is the most important success of my career to date,” a buoyant Rosenqvist said after crossing the finish line at the end of the third race at the Nürburgring.

Rosenqvist is the most experienced driver in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship field. At Silverstone in Great Britain, mid-April, he started into his sixth season in Formula 3. At the age of 18, he spent one year in the German ATS Formula 3 Cup in 2010 before stepping up into the Formula 3 Euro Series one year later. He has remained loyal to the category ever since. The blonde driver, a resident of Malmö, was able to challenge for top positions every season and had chances of winning the title in the past as well. In 2013, the first season of the revived FIA Formula 3 European Championship, he battled with Italian Raffaele Marciello for the title and was only just beaten.

After four successful years with the kfzteile24 Mücke Motorsport team, during which, among others, he won the Masters of Formula 3 on two occasions and took the spoils in the Macau Grand Prix in 2014, Rosenqvist made the transfer to the Prema Powerteam at the beginning of the current season. “After my victory at Macau, I had to change something, be it moving to a different race series or racing for a different team. When you get to know a different approach, you are also improving yourself,” the freshly-crowned FIA Formula 3 European Champion says. This season, he started his campaign with victory at Silverstone. At Hockenheim, Zandvoort, the Red Bull Ring and Portimão he always claimed at least one trophy as the winner of a race. At Monza and at the Nürburgring, however, he had his best weekends so far as he managed to win all three races and claim all three pole positions there. In the Eifel, he even posted the fastest race lap time in each of the three races, something never achieved before by any driver in FIA Formula 3 European Championship history.

Since some years, Rosenqvist has been supported by Swedish ex-Formula 1 driver, Stefan Johansson. “As a matter of fact, he is my manager, but our relationship is rather a friendly one. He is helping me and with his contacts, he is able to open some doors as well.” Rosenqvist’s examples, however, are other drivers: “I find Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen or Juan Pablo Montaya really great. They still are real characters.” As a kid, however, he was rooting for Finnish driver Mika Häkkinen in particular.

Next to his duties as a racing driver, Rosenqvist has created himself a second occupation: together with a friend and his father, he is renting out hall spaces for industrial purposes. “In winter time, I am very much occupied with this business, but rather less so during the summer. Then, the focus is on motorsport,” he admits. When he isn’t working or completing his laps at the world’s race tracks, Rosenqvist’s favourite way to spend time is meeting up with friends. “Friends and family are the most important thing and I enjoy being together with them. We go out for skateboarding or skiing or mountainbiking.” His girlfriend Evylyn is playing an important role in his life, too: “We have now been a couple for three years, but perhaps, she only came to one of my races twice or three times. For me, that is okay, because at the track, I wouldn’t be able to look after her sufficiently anyway. For me, the important thing is knowing that she is fully behind me.”

How things will continue in motorsport for the rather introvert Rosenqvist, who has been supported by Mercedes-Benz, among others, since 2011, hasn’t been decided yet. “I prefer to remain in single-seater racing, but the DTM would be a great option, too. First of all, however, I am looking forward to the Macau Grand Prix, because I would really like to repeat my victory there. That would be a great way to round off my career in Formula 3 after having won the most important title in Formula 3.”