Rosberg signs 5-year deal with Williams
Nico Rosberg will race for Williams next season after signing a long-term contract, the Formula One team announced on Thursday. See Hot News page for more details.
11/03/05 On Thursday, Nico Rosberg will be officially unveiled as Mark Webber's 2006 teammate at Williams.
The British Guardian newspaper said Sir Frank Williams would 'announce today' that the 20-year-old, whose father won the drivers' title in 1982, had got the nod.
Rosberg, German born unlike his Finnish dad, won the inaugural 2005 'GP2' championship at the wheel of the ART team, which – incidentally – is run by the son of Ferrari boss Jean Todt.
The Guardian newspaper revealed that one of Rosberg's sponsors is 'Coutts private banking', which is owned by major Williams backer Royal Bank of Scotland.
10/30/05 Nico Rosberg, the son of ex-Formula One Champion Keke, is set to follow in his father's footsteps and drive for the Williams team next season with Bild daily claiming he has already agreed a five-year deal. The 20-year-old Rosberg, who won this year's GP2 Series championship, is expected to be a teammate to Mark Webber. 10/20/05 This rumor is upgraded to 'fact' with today’s story in Autosport Magazine that Williams has chosen Nico Rosberg over Antonio Pizzonia for their second seat alongside Mark Webber. Although the news has not been officially confirmed, Autosport reports that an announcement should be made in a matter of days. Now we shall see if Pizzonia moves to a race seat in Champ Car after being shunned for the second straight year. 10/19/05 With one race seat up for grabs, GP2 Champion Nico Rosberg is confident that he is in with a good chance of landing the ride over Pizzonia.
"I hope I am racing," Rosberg stated on the GP2 website. "I have proven I am worth it this year and I should be given a chance. It's still between Antonio, me and another driver. At the beginning of the week Frank (Williams) said I will be one of the three drivers so at least I will be test driver next year and hopefully race driver. It will be decided in the next week or two."
"It would be very nice to race for Williams, it would be Williams-Cosworth-Rosberg and that was a World Championship-winning combination 24 years ago so it would be very nice," he concluded with reference to father Keke.
10/14/05 Nico Rosberg insists he is "110% ready" to step up to Formula One and revealed he has already been guaranteed at least a third driver role at Williams next season. The German, son of former world champion Keke, won this year's GP2 Series whilst also testing for Williams.
They have a spare race seat after Jenson Button bought his way out of a contract, and Rosberg is favorite to beat off the claims of Antonio Pizzonia and an unnamed third driver, possibly Anthony Davidson.
Rosberg has no doubts he is good enough to step up to the race team but has already secured a role as third driver if he misses out.
He said: "Am I ready? Yes, definitely, 110% ready.
"I hope I am racing. I have proven I am worth it this year and I should be given a chance. We will see what they decide.
"It's still between Antonio, me and another driver. At the beginning of the week Frank Williams said I will be one of the three drivers so at least I will be test driver next year and hopefully race driver. It will be decided in the next week or two."