GPWizard F1 Forum
F1 News & Discussions => General F1 Discussion => Topic started by: davewilson on February 02, 2007, 03:33:31 PM
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The Williams team will run Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima during Grand Prix weekends this year when his GP2 commitments allow it.
Nakajima, son of former F1 driver Satoru, will drive the third Williams on selected Fridays during the season, and sources have revealed he is expected to get his first chance in the season-opener in Australia.
"We will run Kazuki at some races," said technical director Sam Michael during the launch of the FW29.
"We have a programme with him where he will drive the car for one of the sessions, but he is also doing a GP2 programme so he will not be driving the car on the Friday whenever there is a GP2 race on.
"So I think that leaves him with about seven Grands Prix that he will drive and we will split that equally between Nico and Alex. He will either drive Friday morning or Friday afternoon depending on the weather, so we can adjust that as well."
Nakajima, who will race in the GP2 series with the DAMS team, has so far been in charge of testing duties for the team in 2007.
"Kazuki has done a fantastic job," Michael added. "He is really, really impressive. For a young kid who has done close to bugger all in an F1 car, he is very good. His first day he did 450km and his second day he did 450km, in December, and he got out the car.
"He was doing the same laptimes at the end as he was doing in the middle of the day, obviously the first 30 laps he was building up, he has already done two full-race distance simulations with pitstops and then he went again in Jerez in January and on his Friday day out did 630km.
"You would be hard pressed to find a race driver do what he has done. His neck is rock solid, he hasn't complained about anything. He is a young kid and is on a really steep learning curve, he has not trashed the car at all, he is fast and consistent. He has really impressed and for a young kid to do that is really superb."
The Stig