Nico Rosberg Confirms He's Leaving Williams F1; Heidfeld Confident of Seat

The weekend at Abu Dhabi begins with an announcement about the end of Nico Rosberg’s tenure with the Williams F1 team.

Not that it comes as a surprise (and whoever might replace him?!), but Rosberg finally pulled the trigger publicly. The BBC is among those with the news today:

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“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.

“I’ve been with the team for five years,” added Rosberg.

“They’re the only team, I’ve worked with. [Team boss] Frank Williams, especially, [chief executive] Adam Parr, [technical director] Sam Michael, [co-owner] Patrick Head have really supported my career over these years and I’d like to say a very big thank you to them.

“There’s no reason why they can’t be as good as this year (next year). But I’m not sure they can win races at the moment, and I would like to win races.

“It’s been a good season because the team gave me a good car it was an opportunity to raise my share value and to find a winning car for next year.”

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The BBC notes that Rosberg is expecting to end up at Brawn GP next year, and the story later refers to the possible switching of places between Rosberg and Rubens Barrichello, who is expected to end up at Williams (likely with rookie phenom Nico Hulkenberg).

What is interesting is that the BBC suggests Rosberg’s deal is more with Mercedes than Brawn: “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.”

That seems to me a new, and interesting, twist to driver contracts. [If my brain isn't firing all its synapses, please note it's 5:45 AM on the West Coast.] We’ve had drivers connected with sponsors and engine suppliers before, no doubt—Kaz Nakajima is our best current example—but in that case the engine supplier also ran a full factory team, Toyota, and neither of the teams were at the front of the grid.

Here we have the supplier of the season’s far-and-away best engine (enough so that the FIA wants Mercedes to dial the engine back from 11 to about 8, I think) getting a seat for a driver. And there was plenty of spots for it to choose from: There’s the open seat still at McLaren and I’m sure Vijay Mallya would have dumped Tonio Liuzzi for Nico.

I think it is that rash of “choice” that is what strikes me as different. Could we be seeing a turn toward a time when a driver’s best chance at securing a seat is working out a deal with a dominant engine supplier, which may have PR needs that are not in line with a team’s? [Right off the bat, we have the German tie-in between Mercedes and Rosberg, for instance.]

And what if the Cosworth engine surprises us all and turns out to be pretty strong? Would a driver without a spot in 2010 go to Cosworth midseason seeking either a replacement seat or to secure one for 2011? [I'm thinking of a certain former world champion.]

Now, maybe I am overstating things. But my gut reaction is there is a switch in power, potentially, here. Perhaps it is just the logical next step in the manufacturers losing their dominant role.

In other news, Nick Heidfeld says he’s “pretty confident” he will have a seat on the 2010 grid, despite lacking a contract as he heads into the final weekend of the season.

For this, we turn to Autosport :

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“I think it’s pretty certain that it’s going to be BMW Sauber’s last race. I hope Sauber will be here next year, and I’m pretty certain I will be here next year,” Heidfeld told reporters in Abu Dhabi.

“Obviously it’s special in terms of the emotions.”

When asked if he was confident he will be in F1 next year, he said: “Yes. Nothing’s signed yet. We are talking to a couple of teams and I won’t say more than that.”

The BMW Sauber driver admitted it would be a “huge pity” if the team was absent from the championship in 2010.

“Hopefully they will be, because obviously you can’t really regard it as a new team. I think Sauber will do a lot better than the other new teams in terms of how they will perform,” he added.

“I think that should be more important than having new teams in Formula 1. Obviously is good to bring new teams and more cars, but it would be a huge pity if the team was not there. It would be difficult to understand.”

And although Heidfeld concedes the staff is having a tough time, he reckons everybody in the team is still focused on doing a good job.

“I think everybody is able to focus on the job when they have to do it. It’s not an easy situation for a lot of the people not knowing what they will do next year, or if Sauber will do next year. But I think it doesn’t influence the work they do on track.”

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It is no secret that most of us at F1B are fans of Nick Heidfeld, and that includes Grace who I think protests too much when it comes to Nick’s facial hair.

Unfortunately, Nick may end up at one of the new teams, where his experience and ability to develop a car will be valuable but his podiums—and record number of seconds without a victory—are perhaps a thing of the past.

But better to be on the F1 grid that not, right?

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