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[Taran]

Rosberg announces Williams exit

Nico Rosberg has revealed that he is leaving Williams at the end of the season, with the German driver expected to race for Brawn GP in 2010.

The 24-year-old would not comment when asked to confirm that he had done a deal with Brawn's engine supplier Mercedes, which had secured him a seat.

"It is my last race for Williams so it's a bit strange," he said, ahead of Sunday's final 2009 race in Abu Dhabi.

Rosberg is likely to swap places with Brawn's veteran Rubens Barrichello.

More to follow.

from BBC Sport.

[bud]

everythings slowly coming together.

[Amanda]

No big surprises here then. I'm looking forward to seeing him compete directly with Jenson, assuming they're both at Brawn, next year.

[MAD MAX]

Damn, I wanted him alongside Lewis

[bud]

Damn, I wanted him alongside Lewis

technically he still may be. Really depends on the whole McLaren and Mercedes partnership and who will be the silver arrows..... He hasnt announced where he is going yet.

[yamashek]

Mercedes signing a German driver (Rosberg)...

But Mercedes could mean: BGP or McLaren...

hmm..

[Gaz]

i do hope this is brawn hes going to i'd prefer Kimi at Mclaren.

[scotty]

Rosberg was not expecting Williams wins

By Jonathan Noble and Pablo Elizalde Thursday, October 29th 2009, 11:26 GMT

Nico Rosberg says he is leaving Williams because he does not believe the team will be able to fight for victories next season.

"To say it clearly, Williams is a great team," Rosberg said in Abu Dhabi, where he confirmed he will leave Williams after four seasons.

"And there is no reason why they cannot be just as good as this year, next season - which is running quite close to the top.

"But I am not sure they can win races at the moment. With budgets still being rather free, and an engine change coming up which will not help, so I am not sure they can win races at this point of time – although I am convinced that they can do very well.

"But I would like to win races. That is what really encouraged me to push for the next step."

He added: "You never know, but I would like to try and get into a car where I think there is a very good chance of winning."

Rosberg, who has been linked with moves to Brawn and McLaren, did not want to talk about his future plans, but made it clear his situation will not be clear shortly.

"It is going to take some time," he said.

Despite having decided to leave Williams, Rosberg admitted he was pleased with how his 2009 season has panned out.

He said, however, that he was sorry he was unable to be on the podium or fight for victories.

"I would say it has been a good season," Rosberg said. "I would say that the team has given me a good car this season, which has been important for me because it has given me the opportunity to raise my share value, and gave me a great opportunity for next year to have a chance to get a winning car to win races – which is what I would like to do.

"For me it has been a good season, and the team gave me a good car.

"Of course, it was not as good as we wanted it to be, because we wanted to be on the podium winning races, but it was consistent. We always knew what we had. We knew whichever track we went to we would be up there, finishing top five for a series of races, and seventh in the world championship is okay.

"From my point of view, I got the best out of the car this season because I could not have beaten [Lewis] Hamilton or [Kimi] Raikkonen, I don't think there was any way of beating them, so I got the best out of it. So I am quite pleased."

[EwanM]

Well that's quite a kick in the teeth for Williams. Not Rosberg leaving, more his comments about the team not being able to win. Hardly thankful to the team

[cap-dude]

I love the part where Nico is hardly even German

[scotty]

Well that's quite a kick in the teeth for Williams. Not Rosberg leaving, more his comments about the team not being able to win. Hardly thankful to the team

Yeah, the impression i get of some from the comments he made in that article is that he thinks that he was bigger than the team, in a way...

[myownalias]

It sounds like "Thanks for the break into F1 Sir Frank but here's a big f*ck you because you couldn't provide me with a winning car" - never mind that Williams don't have the budget to compete with the likes of Ferrari, McLaren etc, Williams gave Rosberg a half decent car this season considering their budget deficit!

In a way I hope that he goes to Brawn or McLaren in a race winning car and gets trounced by his team mate... that boy has a bad attitude in my opinion!

[zurich_allan]

I really don't see why people here are having a go at Rosberg. He isn't saying anything that isn't completely true - he's not saying that he doesn't want Williams to win - he's saying that he doesn't believe that they have the budget to do so. I actually think the comment is more a dig at the FIA for bowing to the pressure regarding the budget caps.

The fact of the matter is that Williams simply don't have the money that Ferrari, McLaren or Red Bull have, and it will take another year of at least two of those teams getting it wrong for Williams to win another race under normal circumstances, unless they can find and exploit another loophole in the rules such ats the double diffuser issue this year with Toyota / Brawn.

At the end of the day Rosberg is a racing driver, and a good one at that. Why shouldn't he have ambitions of winning races and championships? In my opinion, if he didn't have those ambitions then he shouldn't be in the sport. He's given it four seasons in a race seat at Williams, thanked them courteously for the opportunity and now wants to move on.

I really don't see how there can be any other point of view on this matter under these circumstances, so can't understand people getting their knickers in a twist over it!

[cap-dude]

Frankly, I think Nico is being realistic.

As he said, he's been with Williams for 4 years. How much longer does he have to sit and around and wait for race winning car. He's only stating facts, that if Williams haven't been able to provide a race winning car recently, there isn't much chance they will next year.

[myownalias]

It's fine that he is leaving for better opportunities but you would think he'd be more appreciative of Williams giving him his break into F1; if it wasn't for Sir Frank; he may never have made it into F1. Rather than the attitude he has according to the article.