BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Any thoughts McLaren had of luring Nico Rosberg away from Williams to become Lewis Hamilton’s teammate were firmly squashed when Williams confirmed its driver lineup for 2008.
Rosberg will again drive for AT&T Williams Toyota, and his teammate will be Kazuki Nakajima, the 22-year-old Japanese driver who made his F-1 debut in Brazil, substituting for retired Alex Wurz.
Kazuki, son of the Satoru Nakajima who competed in F-1 from 1987 through 1991, completed more than 4,000 miles of F-1 testing this year as well as racing in GP2, where he was rookie of the year. His strong ties with Toyota will further strengthen the Williams Toyota relationship.

• Heikki Kovalainen finished 5,370th overall and 592nd in his age group (26) in a field of over 39,000 runners in the New York City Marathon. His time was three hours, 36 minutes and 56 seconds, which was more than 30 minutes faster than Jarno Trulli’s time in the 2000 race. GP2 driver Lucas di Grassi finished 4,848th.

• The FIA has begun its investigation to insure there is no Ferrari intellectual property intertwined in the design of the 2008 McLaren MP4-23.
An independent team of legal and technical experts visited the McLaren factory. McLaren has always said that it would cooperate fully.

• Michael Schumacher is not planning to come out of retirement, but his recent foray on a MotoGP Ducati and his impending test in a Ferrari F-1 car show that he might be getting bored.
Williams director of engineering Patrick Head mischievously mentioned that Schumi might be a candidate for the seat Fernando Alonso vacated at McLaren.
“Michael’s still fit and probably bored,” Head told a London newspaper.
Schumacher’s manager, Willi Webber, said such speculation was “absurd” and that Schumacher remains closely bonded with Ferrari and that would be the only team he’d race for.
At Valencia on Nov. 5, riding Casey Stoner’s championship-winning Ducati GP7, Schumacher set impressive times that were just five seconds a lap slower than the fastest lap set by Dani Pedrosa in the race the day before.
While he has driven F-1 cars in demonstration runs, his planned outing at this week’s Barcelona test will be his first proper test since his retirement just over a year ago.

• Jenson Button told the Mail on Sunday in England that he will quit Honda if the team does not produce a winning car. “I have to start winning and if I don’t then I have to be ruthless,” he said. “There’s an option in my contract which means we can all sit down and discuss the future at the end of the season.”

• Silverstone’s plans to upgrade the entire facility and add things such as a manufacturer test center, hotel and science park are supported by Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe, who told reporters at the circuit: “To lose the British Grand Prix would be a massive blow and we really don’t want to do that.”

• McLaren is in no rush to fill Alonso’s seat, as the team knows that much of the driver market has to wait on its decision.

• Christian Klien asked to be released from his Honda testing contract so that he can try to get a racing seat with another team. Klien will test with Force India in Barcelona this week. He and Tonio Liuzzi, who will also test, are the team’s top candidates for a drive next season along with Adrian Sutil.

• Lewis Hamilton’s move to Switzerland is not just to escape the hoards of fans and photographers in England. Asked in a BBC interview about the tax benefits of living in Switzerland, he said “that definitely adds to it.”

• India’s Karun Chandhok, who won the GP2 race at Spa this year, will test for Red Bull at Barcelona this week.

• Max Mosley, 67, says he will decide in 2008 if he will run for a fifth term as FIA president in 2009. He has held the position since defeating Jean Marie Balestre in 1993.

• The independent Contract Recognition Board is going to rule on the case of Timo Glock, who has contracts with both Toyota, for whom he might race in 2008, and BMW, for whom he was a test driver in 2007.