Wurz confirmed at Williams

Williams confirm Wurz.http://www.f1racing.net/en/index.php. Please merge. ;)

Purrfect! :rotate:

Good for alex, leave de la rosa with mclaren. he'll bring some good info to williams.

I guess that this is probably the best outcome for everyone; McLaren retain de la Rosa's experience and have Paffett for the future. Williams gain an experienced campaigner to help with development to overcome Nico Rosberg's lack of race experience. Looks like Narain Karthikeyan has been left out in the cold though.

Well, Karthikeyan has this "even better" offer that his manager is talking about. Though I'm stuffed if I can think what it could be, all the race seats in F1 now being taken.

all the race seats in F1 now being taken.

You ought to know better than that. ;)

Maybe he's looking at a testing role plus a race drive for 2007 with some other team.

Well, Karthikeyan has this "even better" offer that his manager is talking about. Though I'm stuffed if I can think what it could be, all the race seats in F1 now being taken.

I think he's talking about a ride in the IRL with a nice paycheck.

That is good news I am happy for Alex, Williams have made a good choice :)

I think he's talking about a ride in the IRL with a nice paycheck.

If the IRL want Karthikeyan, they must be planning on getting their talent from the nearly pool of F1

Well, the vast majority of drivers on their grid are nearly-f1's, wannabee's and never has-beens.
He'll fit in perfectly. ;)

Well, the vast majority of drivers on their grid are nearly-f1's, wannabee's and never has-beens.
He'll fit in perfectly. ;)

Glad someone agrees, I thought I'd get in hot water for that one.

That's good news. It's uncertain whether Wurz would do a good job as a race driver, but he's perfect for a third driver role. Good news for Williams, I think Karthikeyan has rightly been left out in the cold. He isn't consistent enough.

Karthikeyan in the IRL can't be good news.

The only people who are that negative about the IRl are people who think a 2005 season review should preview 2006.

Good for Alex to have a deal sorted, he can probably teach Williams a lot, although I hope they've allowed for his physique. It could be that this has been planned for a long time, and they've been unable to make it official until Alex's contract expired on teh 31st December.

On past form, being third driver for Williams almost guarentees him a couple of races.

Great news for Williams and if they were in negotiations with Wurz they could never have been looking at Narain seriously for the third driver slot. Chalk and cheese.

The only people who are that negative about the IRl are people who think a 2005 season review should preview 2006.

No, not really.

The funny thing about alex is that as people go, he's not exactly huge. is only just bigger than me.

How can you be so negative about the IRL when for years F1 has been ignoring some of the most talented drivers in the world, often refusing even to give many of them a chance. Usually it's just about money. Some of the F1 tests that IRL drivers have had (eg Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon) have shown them to be just as talented as most of the drivers in F1. Karthikeyan has certainly not disgraced himself in his Williams tests & you can hardly take a year in a Jordan to be a accurate measure of talent when they were underperforming so woefully. If you don't like a series don't watch it, but to tar all of it's drivers with the same brush in that way is simply snobbery.

How can you be so negative about the IRL when for years F1 has been ignoring some of the most talented drivers in the world, often refusing even to give many of them a chance. Usually it's just about money. Some of the F1 tests that IRL drivers have had (eg Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon) have shown them to be just as talented as most of the drivers in F1. Karthikeyan has certainly not disgraced himself in his Williams tests & you can hardly take a year in a Jordan to be a accurate measure of talent when they were underperforming so woefully. If you don't like a series don't watch it, but to tar all of it's drivers with the same brush in that way is simply snobbery.

Good reasons for that. Remember Wilson, Da Matta and to an extent Zanardi

Great news for Williams in signing such an experienced test driver. much better than N K.

Webbo can't be that much smaller than Wurz, though?

Good reasons for that. Remember Wilson
Are you completely mad. Wilson is a great driver who was thrown in at the deep end (in a Minardi in which he had done very little testing, on circuits he didn't know & up against a strong & well respected team-mate in Verstappen) & did enough to prove that he was very talented. To see that all you need do is look at his first lap at the Malaysian GP that year where he made up all of those places without power steering, a feat that few drivers in F1 could have done. Now he is winning in America against drivers such as Tracy & Bourdais who are easily good enough to be real contenders in F1. I for one believe that both of them could have easily outdone what any of the drivers in last years Williams, Red Bull, Sauber, Jordan, Minardi or BAR teams did do. After all of what they have done if you still believe that drivers such as Wilson, Bourdais, Tracy, Wheldon, Kanaan & Dixon aren't good enough to be in F1, or are at least better than half the drivers that are, then I think one of us needs to watch what they are doing in their respective series a bit closer & I don't think it is me......

Wurz is a sound choice as a Friday tester. NK would have been a poor selelction for that particular role in my opinion.

Comparing the F1 careers of drivers from Indycars on the basis of their F1 results is pointless and demeaning. In F1 the teams are centred on technology and beating each other technically, the results of that are seen on the track. The most technically successful teams tend to have the better drivers but not always.

Indycar racing (CCWS, *CART*, IRL) is team based and fought out in the pits and on the track as racers. In this series the best drivers and best organised teams join together but the results are a much better comparison of relative ability than we see in F1 where the technical advantage of the team plays a bigger part.
CDM was a journeyman for Arciero in CART till he moved to Newman Haas where he became a champ. But he wasn't far off the pace in CART and teams had a better idea of his real talent.
In F1 the drivers (like Zanardi )also had to adapt running on grooved tyres. JV hated them when they came in and has never really adapted to the frooved tyre, narrow track formula, but that isn't the only measure of a driver.

Are you completely mad. Wilson is a great driver who was thrown in at the deep end (in a Minardi in which he had done very little testing, on circuits he didn't know & up against a strong & well respected team-mate in Verstappen) & did enough to prove that he was very talented. To see that all you need do is look at his first lap at the Malaysian GP that year where he made up all of those places without power steering, a feat that few drivers in F1 could have done. Now he is winning in America against drivers such as Tracy & Bourdais who are easily good enough to be real contenders in F1. I for one believe that both of them could have easily outdone what any of the drivers in last years Williams, Red Bull, Sauber, Jordan, Minardi or BAR teams did do. After all of what they have done if you still believe that drivers such as Wilson, Bourdais, Tracy, Wheldon, Kanaan & Dixon aren't good enough to be in F1, or are at least better than half the drivers that are, then I think one of us needs to watch what they are doing in their respective series a bit closer & I don't think it is me......

Bourdais should be in F1, I'll hand you that, but Tracy??
It only took him like, err, 10 years to win the title?
Pass some of that stuff you're smoking!! :p

From the IRL, for example Dixon, hopeless, just look at where he is now for instance compared to a couple of years ago.
He's won 4 races in IRL, yep count 'em F-O-U-R races, and 3 of them back in 2003.
3 seasons, 4 wins.
And only one win in CART/Champcars in 2001 at Nazareth...

Even at Williams they said that he performed way below accepted standards when they tested him...

Same for Tony Kanaan, what did he ever do?

The only reasonable driver I can think of in the IRL currently would be Wheldon, but even he's a long shot.

But Wilson's ok, I guess.
He went pretty well against Verstappen, who we all know really was The Boss in F1. ;)

And for God's sake, use paragraphs!

Dixon tested way below accepted standards...at Williams?
Can you point me to the source of that?

Webbo can't be that much smaller than Wurz, though?

I'm not much more than 5 foot tall in the old money, and I'd reckon that Webber is only a couple of inches taller than me, so Webber isn't a tall man by any stretch of the imagination.

Dixon is highly talented, however just like Zinardi could not find any form in an F1 car. Dixon tested twice in 2004 with Williams but was never asked again.

Mark Webber is 184 cm tall. Which I believe is some where around the 6 foot mark. 6 foot 2inch maybe ?

Mark Webber is 184 cm tall. Which I believe is some where around the 6 foot mark. 6 foot 2inch maybe ?

No, from memory he is only 5' 9" or there abouts.

180cm is 6ft, so Webber would be 6ft 2in

According to this link, Webber's 6'1": http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/driver?series=f1&id=mwebber

So he and Wurz must be about the same height.

Dixon tested way below accepted standards...at Williams?
Can you point me to the source of that?

This (http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns12939.html) is the only thing I could find on the net.

Doesn't say explicitly that he was way below accepted standards, but it does say something when even Toyota, the manufacturer with which he won the IRL title with, didn't want him, at all.

The only other source that I know of was an issue of F1 racing mag a while after he did his tests, in an interview with Williams.

And Webber's only 4 cm taller than me?
I thought he was bigger than that.

It also appears that Nico Rosberg is 178 cms tall - what's that, 5'11"? - so all three drivers are of similar stature.

Wurz is by far the stockiest and most muscular of the three though, isn't he? As with Wilson's height (he's very close to the 1.9m/6'3" that is the maximum an F1 car should be able to accomodate), a car does need designing around it - which is why I suspect WIlliams have had this sorted for a while.

Stupid random question, but why is Wurz one of very few drivers these days to wear a 'binocular' fireproof balaclava? Surely they offer better protection than the ones with the larger, single opening?

No, from memory he is only 5' 9" or there abouts.

Well from his website www.markwebber.com its say 184cm

Mark'd definitely at least 6ft. Alex should add somethign to the team though - he's been repsected at McLaren for a long time.

He's got the ability, and with Webber's frame, they'll have the space in the chassis

I think this is a fantastic signing by williams. If the cosworh engine is strong then i think the williams team will have a brilliant season. I really think that they have the right blend of drivers in place to make something of this

That's good news. It's uncertain whether Wurz would do a good job as a race driver, but he's perfect for a third driver role. Good news for Williams, I think Karthikeyan has rightly been left out in the cold. He isn't consistent enough.

Karthikeyan in the IRL can't be good news.

The guy would be a liability on the ovals:eek:

I think this is a fantastic signing by williams. If the cosworh engine is strong then i think the williams team will have a brilliant season. I really think that they have the right blend of drivers in place to make something of this

Great signing, I agree. But I don't think they will have great season, will take them a couple of years to get everthing to gel. At least as you mentioned, they have the pilots.

I think this will be good for both Williams and Wurz, Williams get a proven ability and Wurz needed to change before he sunk into obscurity as part of McLarens back room furniture...

As for Williams season I think thats one of the most interesting focus's of next season, the return of Cosworth is fantastic and their experience with V8's could mean a big surprise and at the moment I think that Rosberg could well outperform Webber which would put the boot into Webber once and for all, he needs to start being the number one driver before its too late. But I don't mean to turn this thread into another one ...

One might also observe that Coulthard has flourished after his departure from the Woking hothouse... perhaps Wurz will be able to do the same. Incredible, really, to think that he's only spent two (full) seasons as a race driver in F1, yet seems, in a lot of ways, to be a name from the past now. This could be a make-or-break move.

If I may be a "quasi-modo" here (i.e. somoene who is not a mod but who acts as if he was one, what I normally don't like seeing), is there a reason why we are having two threads about Wurz (both started by Martyn)?

The guy would be a liability on the ovals:eek:

Thats one bash too far IMO. He doesn't have any records of running in to people this season, which a few supposedly better drivers have. I'm sure he would be ok.