Williams to 'test' 14-year-old

15/05/2007

After a great start to the season for 14-year-old Malaysian driver Jazeman Jaafar, who took two wins and a second in the first four rounds of the Formula BMW Asia series at Sepang in Malaysia, he has been invited to visit the Williams factory in Grove today.

During the visit Jazeman will be accompanied by his Meritus race engineer and director Firhat Mokhzani and Dato' Kamaruddin the Deputy CEO of Malaysian based AirAsia who are partners of the AT&T Williams team. The AirAsia director is flying to support the young Malay motorsport star in his first F1 simulation.

Speaking about the prospect of testing the race simulator at Williams, driver Jazeman said: "The team will run the Sepang race configuration for me as I know the track so well. This simulator is so close to reality. It is huge and looks a lot like a flight simulator with a screen that goes all around. It is close to race feelings, but it is not quite the same of course.

"It is a very impressive tool for a driver. I am eager to try it out. This is a really cool opportunity for me and when Peter Thompson arranged the F1 simulation run for me I could not believe how lucky I am to be supported by Sir Frank and it is my dream to race for Williams

"I have just started my professional motorsport career and have been working hard with Meritus over the past six months and all our hard work paid of when I won two races during the opening rounds of the 2007 F.BMW/Asia championship"

"I met Jazeman just before the Malaysian Grand Prix," said Adam Parr, Williams F1 Chief Executive. "Both Tony Fernandes at Air Asia and Williams were keen to give him a test. The best way to do this at Jazeman's age is to give him a run on our simulator. It is too early to tell whether he has the ability to make it to Formula One but he did well in Asian Formula Renault last year and has made a strong start to this season's Asian Formula BMW. He is also an intelligent and
mature young man who works hard at school and has a particular interest in maths and science. These are all promising signs."