Kazuki Nakajima’s formula one race debut at Interlagos last Sunday may indeed have been an evaluation for a full time seat in 2008.
When it was announced that the Japanese rookie would replace Williams’ retiring Alex Wurz in Brazil, the Grove based team insisted that his debut was not “an evaluation exercise for a race seat in 2008”.
“You cannot assess a driver’s capability on the basis of one race but this is an ideal opportunity to develop Kazuki’s experience,” Sir Frank Williams said.
Nakajima, 22, has also recently been linked with Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota seat for next year.
An insider told Sport Bild last month: “With the successes of Hamilton with McLaren, the youth principle has now drawn the attention of Japan. And Kazuki is young and Japanese.”
Now, while denying that he was compelled to vacate his Williams seat in an interview with motorline.cc, Wurz has suggested that officials saw Nakajima’s debut as an opportunity to “test” his readiness for a full time formula one drive.
The Austrian said his Williams bosses “mentioned that my race cockpit in Brazil will be used to test Kazuki for 2008”.
