Monday, November 19, 2007

Kazuki joins Williams

The AT & T Williams F1 Team has announced their driver line-up for 2008, with test driver Kazuki Nakajima being selected to fill Williams second seat alongside Nico Rosberg.

Kazuki is the son of Japanese F1 racing pioneer Satoru Nakajima, who was closely linked with Honda throughout his career. But Kazuki has cultivated his association with Toyota since winning in Japanese karting, while trying to make a name for himself.

Nakajima scored five podiums and his first pole this season in GP2 while driving for the DAMS team. Kazuki then made his Formula 1 debut in Brazil, filling in for Alexandar Wurz, who has just retired from F1.

The move is attractive for Frank Williams as Toyota will now pay for the engines Williams currently uses, with Sir Frank solidifying his partnership with the Japanese automaker. Recall that Williams previously spurned Honda over Japanese talent two decades earlier and subsequently lost his supply of the all conquering Honda V-6 Turbos to McLaren in 1988.

The announcement of Rosberg as the Grove squads number one driver seemingly rules out his potential move to McLaren as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate in 2008…