Williams once again rules out Rosberg’s departure

Friday, Sir Frank Williams once again ruled out the possibility of Nico Rosberg moving to McLaren-Mercedes.

The boss of the eponymous Oxfordshire team told the German edition of motorsport that he is not interested in selling the young 22-year-old German to McLaren and its director Ron Dennis. Rosberg is under contract with Williams for 2008.

Franck Williams even adds that several million dollars for the buyout of the contract would not interest him.

Next to names such as Heikki Kovalainen, Adrian Sutil, or Pedro De La Rosa, the German-born Rosberg had been introduced a few weeks ago as the ideal replacement for Fernando Alonso.

It is true that this driver inspires confidence and has been gaining momentum for a few months, and could have brought his potential to the McLaren-Mercedes team for 2008 and possibly beyond.

But Williams, 65, insisted: « How can I announce this news to all the factory employees? »

« I tell them that we want to be a strong and competitive team again, and I also tell them that I sold our best driver? I would only have to sell the team, » the Briton said.

Williams had fallen to eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship in 2006, but had a more successful 2007 season on all fronts and was therefore able to lift their head and keep moving forward.

Still referring to its contractual hold on Rosberg, Williams explained: « A year ago, I might have considered selling this contract because we really needed money. But that’s no longer the case now. »