> Nakajima lands Williams test role

Williams has signed Japan’s Kazuki Nakajima as an official test driver.

The 21-year-old, who currently races in the F3 Euroseries with Manor Motorsport, will work alongside Indian Narain Karthikeyan and race drivers Alex Wurz and Nico Rosberg on development of the Toyota-powered FW29.

Nakajima is a member of Toyota’s young driver programme (TDP) and graduated through the ranks of Japanese racing – finishing runner-up in the 2005 Japanese F3 series – before moving to Europe this season.

“Kazuki has consistently demonstrated his potential through karting and other junior formulae,” said team boss Frank Williams.

“Having assessed both his potential in the car and his aptitude out of it, we believe he has the necessary ingredients to graduate to Formula 1 in a testing role.”

Nakajima is the son of former grand prix driver Satoru, who raced for Lotus and Tyrrell between 1987 and 1991 (ironically with backing from Toyota’s arch-rival Honda) and now runs a successful Formula Nippon team.

“For anyone with an interest in motor racing, Formula 1 is the ultimate objective and I am delighted that Williams, one of the senior names in the sport and a team that exists solely to race, has given me this great chance,” Kazuki Nakajima said.

“I look forward to helping as much as I can with the team’s transition to Toyota power for 2007.

“It will be a great honour to be the first TDP driver to graduate to Formula 1.”