Formula One team Williams announced yesterday that they were retaining veteran Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello for next season but had decided to release promising German rookie Nico Hulkenberg.

Williams have lost several sponsors and are in desperate need for a driver who pays for his seat with the most commonly mentioned name being that of Venezuela’s GP2 champion Pastor Maldonado, who would bring in around 15 million dollars.

Sir Frank Williams, the founder and owner of the Formula One stable, said that 38-year-old Barrichello had delivered everything they had hoped for this season when they signed him at the end of 2009.

The Brazilian racing in his 18th season garnered 47 points whilst 23-year-old Hulkenberg finished with 22 points but also secured the team’s first pole position for five years in the penultimate race of the season the Brazilian Grand Prix.

“We wish the best to Nico Hulkenberg and we hope that our paths cross again in the future,” said Williams, who added he believed that Hulkenberg would go on to do great things.

The Williams team, once the dominant force in Formula One, won the last of their nine constructors championships in 1997 and finished sixth in the season that ended on Sunday with constructors champions Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel taking the drivers championship.

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