Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/765642
21 Sport MOTORSPORTS maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 21 DECEMBER 2016 Lauda: January decision possible Mercedes may wait until the end of January before announcing Nico Rosberg's replacement, with non- executive Niki Lauda admitting the team are yet to make a decision on who will take the world champion's seat ROSBERG, 31, shocked the sport when he decided to retire just five days after being crowned cham- pion and it remains to be seen who will fill the German's boots to team up with Lewis Hamilton for 2017. The likes of Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Pascal Wehr- lein have all been linked with the drive, but Lauda says no decision has yet been made. "We are still making up our minds," he told Austrian televi- sion channel ServusTV. "That is a huge discussion, re- ally. It can take until the end of January until we know which route we are going to take. "We had hoped for a faster so- lution, but the discussions prove to be difficult. There are two scenarios - we take a young gun like Wehrlein who could turn out to be a (Max) Verstappen, or he couldn't. Or we take an experi- enced guy." If Mercedes do wait that long, their new driver will be an- nounced with less than two months to go until the start of the 2017 campaign. One man who has ruled himself out of the running to replace Ros- berg is Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz Jr. The 22-year-old was another name touted as a potential Mer- cedes man, but the Spaniard said at a sponsor's event in Madrid that he would not be moving from his current team. "Who would not want to be in Mercedes?" he said. "Is it a real choice? For 2017, no. I have my mind focused on Toro Rosso for 2017 but also to be in a big team in 2018. Most of all I would like it to be Red Bull, but I want to open as many doors as possible." Rosberg became the first reign- ing champion to retire from the sport since Alain Prost in 1993, having finally wrestled the title from Hamilton after the pair bat- tled for supremacy over the last three seasons. Niki Lauda says discussions could take until the end of January Symonds to leave Williams job WILLIAMS have an- nounced that chief techni- cal officer Pat Symonds is to step down from his role - with rumours persisting Paddy Lowe of Mercedes is set to fill the void. Symonds has been with the British team since 2013 but is now leaving at the end of the year. The 63-year-old, who had a storied history in Formula One, arrived at Williams from Virgin Rac- ing in the middle of the 2013 season, helping the team to third in the construc- tors championship in his first full year. The announcement came on Williams' official website, with deputy team principal Claire Williams praising the work done by the departing Symonds. "Pat has been a tremendous asset to this team over the past three years," she said. "Pat's appointment was the start of a major restructuring exercise, and he has been pivotal in reshaping Williams into what is a much stronger racing team today. "I would like to thank him for all of his hard work and commit- ment during that time. We now look to the future and will be an- nouncing details regarding the team's technical leadership in due course." After finishing third in 2014, Williams repeated the accom- plishment the following year but last season saw them fall back- wards, ending fifth in the con- structors table. Lowe, the technical executive director of reigning champions Mercedes, is widely reported to be close to a switch to a senior technical role at Williams. The team currently have Valt- teri Bottas and rookie Lance Stroll in the car for the 2017 season, although Lowe's current marque are believed to be keen on adding Bottas to their own driver line-up after the shock retirement of reigning world champion Nico Rosberg. Pat Symonds