Rosberg And Nakajima To Continue With Williams For 2009 F1 Season
Show your support.
Buzz this article up.
Oct 02, 2008
Drivers Nico Rosberg of Germany and Kazuki Nakajima of Japan have been retained by Williams for the 2009 Formula One World Championship season.
A statement from the British team said they were “confident in the abilities of Nico Rosberg to apply his talent and experience to lead the important introduction of the FW31 next season.
“Kazuki Nakajima has built on his consistency to improve steadily throughout the season. It is the team’s expectation that Kazuki will be able to build his natural pace on this firm foundation next season,” the statement added.
The Toyota-powered former world champions said in a statement that 21-year-old German Nico Hulkenberg would also remain as test and reserve driver.
With Formula One’s technical regulations changing considerably, Williams said continuity was a key consideration.
Rosberg, 23, was already under contract for 2009 after team founder and co-owner Frank Williams last year rejected what he called an offer of ”majestic proportions” from Mercedes-powered McLaren.
However Toyota protege Nakajima, son of former racer Satoru and currently Japan’s only grand prix driver, had been waiting to hear whether he would be retained for a second season.
Rosberg, who finished a career-best second in last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton, has driven for the British team since graduating to F1 in 2006.
Nakajima, a protégé of Williams’s engine supplier Toyota, made his F1 debut with them in Brazil at the end of 2007 and joined full-time at the beginning of the current season. He scored his best result - sixth - in Australia.
Williams have one of motor racing’s most distinguished track records, with 113 grand prix victories (a tally beaten only by Ferrari, 208, and McLaren, 161) and 16 world titles (nine for constructors, seven for drivers).
The past four seasons have been fallow, however: they haven’t won since Juan Pablo Montoya triumphed in the 2004 Brazilian GP, the final race of the team’s partnership with former engine supplier BMW.
