Thursday October 31st, 2002

The Williams team confirmed today that Nico Rosberg will test drive their Formula One car for the first time on December 3.

The 17-year old, son of 1982 Formula One World Champion Keke, will debut in a Grand Prix car at the Barcelona circuit in Spain, driving this year's BMW-powered FW24 chassis.

Rosberg secured the Formula BMW ADAC Championship title this season with nine victories in 20 races.

"It was such a superlative performance," said BMW motorsport director Gerhard Berger, "That we want to give Nico the special opportunity of a Formula One test drive."

Reports in Britain also suggest Williams will be testing Vitantonio Liuzzi, last year's World Karting Champion, as well as F3000 driver Georgio Pantano.

Published at 10:11:48 GMT