Rosberg joins Mercedes, Brawn rules out Schumacher

STUTTGART - Nico Rosberg is to join the new Mercedes GP team from next Formula One season, it was confirmed Monday.

Rosberg, who leaves Williams after four years, will be the first German since Karl Kling and Hans Herrmann in 1955 to drive a works Mercedes “silver arrow” in Formula One.

Mercedes, who have taken over Brawn GP, are thought to be looking for an all-German driving team, with Nick Heidfeld also seen as a possible signing.

Ross Brawn, who will be the Mercedes team principal, has rejected speculation that seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher could join the team to make a sensational Formula One comeback next season.

Rosberg, 24, the son of Finnish former world champion Keke Rosberg, is regarded as Germany’s brightest F1 driving talent alongside Sebastian Vettel of the Red Bull team.

He has yet to win a Grand Prix race, with a second-place and one third-place finish his best in 70 starts.

German media had raised the possibility of Schumacher driving next season for the new Mercedes GP team.

But Brawn told Bild newspaper’s online edition the media was “putting its own dream together”.

Brawn, who worked for many years alongside Schumacher at Ferrari, said the 40-year-old German was not interested in resuming his driving career.

The speculation was fuelled by a meeting between Schumacher, Brawn, Daimler chief executive officer Dieter Zetsche and Mercedes motorsport director Norbert Haug at the final Formula One race of 2009 in Abu Dhabi.

Mercedes had last week announced that they were taking over the majority shares in Brawn, which won both the constructors’ championship, as well as the drivers’ championship last season.

Schumacher, who is turning 41 on Jan 3, is said to have been offered a new contract by Ferrari, for whom he has been acting as consultant since retiring from the sport in 2006.