Muller Closer To Williams Seat.

Sources close to the heart of Formula One continue to insist that Alex Zanardi will not be racing for Williams in 2000.


The troubled Italian is firmly believed to have turned his back on the category, despite persistent denials from both the driver and his team, and may well have secured a return to Champ Cars with former Ganassi engineer Mo Nunn. If the story is true, Williams would be left with a vacancy alongside Ralf Schumacher, and few options with which to fill it.


The long-running 'will he, won't he' saga surrounding Zanardi has seen several candidates linked with Williams for 2000 but, one-by-one, almost all of them have now cemented deals elsewhere. This has left BMW test driver and sportscar star Jorg Muller as the most prominent replacement, backed by the amount of development running he has completed with the FW21 hybrid over the close season.


The Austrian - a protege of BMW motorsport boss Gerhard Berger - is a former F3000 champion, where he beat Indy 500 winner and Team Rahal Champ Car signing Kenny Brack to the title, and Le Mans winner, but has so far missed out on the move to F1. He conducted the initial runs with BMW's new V10 at the A1-Ring during the Autumn, and has partnered Schumacher at a handful of end-of-year test sessions in Spain in the absence of Zanardi.


BMW and Williams are scheduled to launch their definitive 2000 livery tomorrow [Monday], but no announcement on drivers is expected until February at the earliest.