Rubens and Hukenberg for Williams *confirmed*

**F1boat** · 3rd November 2009, 05:55

I think that this article is very old, before FIA allowed Cosworth to do some work on the engine.

**VkmSpouge** · 3rd November 2009, 07:43

A good driver pairing for Williams next season. The mixture of youth and experience should see them do well. The signing of Rubens Barrichello is key to the team as Nico Hulkenberg couldn't wish for a better team mate to learn the ropes of F1. What's more Barrichello's feed back during the winter testing will be crucial as the team seek to integrate their new car with the new Cosworth engine.

**ArrowsFA1** · 3rd November 2009, 07:53

Originally Posted by Somebody

Remember this from a couple of months back?3-4 seconds. Per lap. After a 2009 with the field spread as low as than 1s/lap.

I can't see Williams signing up with Cosworth knowing they are going to be 3-4 secs a lap slower than most of the field. Why would they do that?

The Cosworth engine may have been one of the thirstiest in 2006, but that's a long time ago now.

**AndyL** · 3rd November 2009, 14:04

Originally Posted by ArrowsFA1

I can't see Williams signing up with Cosworth knowing they are going to be 3-4 secs a lap slower than most of the field. Why would they do that?

The Cosworth engine may have been one of the thirstiest in 2006, but that's a long time ago now.

And they've still got until March to keep working on it, with the knowledge that it's going to have to run a race on one tank of fuel - an opportunity that none of the other engine suppliers have.

**christophulus** · 3rd November 2009, 15:33

Very happy with that. Barrichello is still fast and hitting 300 GPs will be something special! Hulkenberg has been very impressive in GP2 and Williams clearly rate him as he's been the reserve driver all year.

The Cosworth will be fine, especially as it is a "new" engine so can be tweaked up until the 1st March..

The technical team at Williams, which Patrick Head believes is approaching the level to produce the kind of work Williams came up with in its glory days, believes that the Cosworth will be a competitive engine, albeit possibly quite high on fuel consumption, which is a penalty with no refueling next year.

But as a new engine, the technical team at Cosworth are allowed to continue developing the engine until March 1 next year, which gives them a lot of time to improve the product. Existing F1 engines are frozen.

Although reliability is unproven and there is no track testing allowed, the team at Cosworth has been supplemented recently by many engineers returning from other engine programmes, such as Mercedes’ in Brixworth. Head believes that this makes Cosworth the right option, but I still believe that there is some kind of wider business reason for this which may become clear down the line.

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2009/1...nd-experience/