24/09/2005
NEWS STORY
WiliamsF1 Technical Director, Sam Michael, has (seemingly) poured cold water on the prospect of Nico Rosberg making his race debut for the team within the coming weeks.
As Nick Heidfeld continues to recover from his F1 testing and subsequent bicycle accidents, there is speculation that Rosberg could be drafted in to replace his countryman in one or even both of the final two rounds.
However, talking at Interlagos on Friday, Michael played down the idea.
"Whether he is in for the next two Grands Prix or not is one question," said the Australian. "He is obviously a very good young driver, he is definitely on our list for the future, whether he races for the last two Grands Prix is something that Frank Williams can decide race by race.
"I would say it is unlikely," he admitted, "but there is still a possibility there. But more importantly I think he has shown what he can do in GP2, everyone has seen what he has done this year is pretty good, and what he has shown us inside a Formula One car is pretty good as well.
"The first time we met Nico he was 17 years old, he was clearly too young to be involved in Formula One at that stage, but it was quite a good exercise because that was about two-and-a-half years ago now and it gave him enough of a taste to know he wanted to do it, and we could see straight away he is a very intelligent guy, probably one of the smartest of his age I have come across. When I say the smartest I mean from an engineering perspective, he had a very good understanding of car dynamics, tyres and things like that, even at that age, and that was pretty impressive. I guess that has come through things handed down by his father (Keke).
"What happens to him in the future we will just have to wait and see," Michael continued. "Frank has got a couple of options for our second race seat and Nico is definitely one of the guys on that list, as are others, so we will have to wait and see."
With one event (Bahrain) remaining, Rosberg currently leads Heikki Kovalainen by just 3 points. The two-race event takes place at the end of this week.
According to Pitpass' sources, whatever the outcome, Kovalainen will be promoted to the role of test and reserve driver at Renault in 2006.