The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Williams shuts door on Narain

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 04, 2006

Sport

Sport - Racing : Motor

Williams shuts door on Narain

London : Speculations proved correct as Narain Karthikeyan's F-1 dream came crashing with the Williams test driver's job slipping through his fingers.

The Indian, after Midland decided to jettison him this season, was looking for a new team and was eyeing the test driver's seat at Williams. Narain was almost certain to bag the job after testing twice for Williams before the Christmas holiday break.

But a television channel claimed this week that 31-year-old Austrian Alexander Wurz would be the test and reserve driver for Williams and the F-1 team also confirmed this in a statement.

Announcing the decision to rope in Wurz who has been a McLaren tester for the last five seasons, Frank Williams said, ``I am delighted with the agreement we have reached with Alex.''

``Everyone at Williams believes he will bring significant improvements to the team's performance, on Grand Prix Fridays in particular, and to our testing programme in general.''

Wurz, who debuted in F-1 for Benetton in 1997 and 1998, said, ``I am delighted that the opportunity to drive for his team has now arisen.''

Australian Mark Webber And German Nico Rosberg will race for the team this season. — UNI

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