Oliver Rowlands joins Williams as Official young driver.
Oliver Rowland has been signed as Williams’ official young driver for the 2018 season. Rowland will undertake simulator work at the team’s Grove factory and also be given the chance to drive the FW41 in the young driver test, which sees teams assign a less-experienced racer two days of driving in an F1 car.
Rowland will dovetail his duties with Williams alongside an FIA World Endurance Championship campaign with LMP1 challengers CEFC TRSM Racing and their Ginetta G60-LT-P1 car.
It isn’t the Brit’s first experience of Formula 1 after being appointed as Renault Sport Formula One Team development driver in 2012 and also testing McLaren F1 Team and Red Bull Racing cars as part of winning the 2012 McLaren Autosport Award and 2015 World Series by Renault Championship.
They’re confident the Yorkshireman can bring a different aspect to the set-up in terms of what he can do on and off the track.
Alongside his role for Williams, Rowland will gain further experience in 2018 by competing in the World Endurance Championship with TRSM Racing in LMP1.
Claire Williams, Deputy Team Principal, commented; “I am pleased we have secured the services of Oliver, who is a talented and highly regarded young driver. He has raced at many Formula One circuits, and his experience and knowledge will complement the team’s ongoing engineering work. His addition to Williams will further strengthen the team.”
Oliver Rowland added; "I am immensely proud to be joining Williams Martini Racing as their 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 Formula One and I’m very excited to be doing that with Williams. They have 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."
