Williams signs Oliver Rowland to young driver programme
Formula Renault 3.5 champion Oliver Rowland has been signed to Williams’ Formula 1 programme as a young driver for the 2018 season. The 25-year-old will work on the simulator at the team’s Grove facility and drive the FW41 in the young driver test, either at Barcelona later this month or at the Hungaroring in July/August.
Rowland finished third in the 2017 Formula 2 Championship with wins at Monaco and Hungary and 10 podium finishes in all. Renault appointed him as a development driver, and the Briton has previously tested for McLaren and Red Bull. He will compete in the World Endurance Championship ‘superseason’ LMP1 class for TRSM Racing.
Claire Williams, deputy team principal, said, “his addition to Williams will further strengthen the team.” Williams’ driver line-up for the 2018 F1 season now consists of Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin with Robert Kubica in a reserve role.
Oliver Rowland added: “I am immensely proud to be joining Williams as its official young driver. It’s a fantastic opportunity for me and I will be working as hard as I possibly can to help them develop the car this season.
“Williams is a British team with a fantastic heritage and history which has made it one of the most respected teams in the sport. It’s always been my ambition to get a role in F1 and I’m very excited to be doing that with Williams. It has always given young drivers the opportunity to progress so it’s now up to me to make a good impression and further my development as a driver. Hopefully with my hard work in the simulator and test I can impress the team. It’s certainly going to be an exciting challenge ahead and I want to help Williams as the team continues to work to close the gap to the front of the grid in 2018.”
Laurent Mekies arrives as Red Bull F1 team principal with a series of immediate challenges to solve and long-term issues to tackle. He'll either sink or swim, says Mark Hughes
Former McLaren F1 team-mates Mika Häkkinen and David Coulthard are set to renew old rivalries in a new Evening with... tour – they told James Elson all about it
In Formula 1, driver contracts may look iron-clad on paper, but history shows that some of its biggest stars have made dramatic early exits
Former McLaren F1 ace told James Elson about his private audience with The Beatles' George Harrison, who played an unreleased grand prix-themed song