Friday November 19th, 1999

BMW will not intervene in Williams' decision on whether to replace Alex Zanardi or not. The motorsport director of BMW, Gerhard Berger, told MotorSport Aktuell, "I thought Zanardi would get on track by mid-season, but that did not happen, apart from Monza. We are not in a position to dictate the driver line-up, because that is Frank Williams' job. There are binding contracts, and Williams has never broken a contract."

Asked about the possibility that Jacques Villeneuve will replace Zanardi and team up with Ralf Schumacher, Berger said "they would be a very strong pair." However, all chances of that happening next year where dismissed by Villeneuve himself, who told British magazine, Autosport, that "I would go to the end of my term."

"If there was another season like this, I wouldn't have any option but to go somewhere else," Villeneuve said. "But there won't be another season like this, because it cannot be any worse. When you are so far down, you can only go up."