Webber: Rosberg can be a strong teammate

"He knows what he's got to do and he will deliver. I'm very, very sure of that," Webber told Reuters on Friday, a day after the 20-year-old son of 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg was confirmed as the team's second driver.

"He's ready to go...he's done well to get the race seat and I think it's something he deserves and it's good for the team," the Australian said. "In all the testing he's done he doesn't make any mistakes and he's been very solid.

"No-one can look in the crystal ball and see the end result, who knows? Jenson [Button] was very young and did a fantastic job as was Kimi [Raikkonen]. Those guys were right there right away with very limited experience. Nico is of a similar level, I suppose, so he'll be strong."

Briton Button, now at BAR, made his debut as a 20-year-old with Williams in 2000 and became the youngest points scorer in Formula One history with sixth place in only his second race.

Raikkonen, twice a championship runner-up already with McLaren, was 21 and with just 21 single-seater starts under his belt when he entered the sport with Sauber in 2001. He scored a point in his very first race.

Rosberg had his first test with Williams as a 17-year-old after winning the German Formula BMW title. He remains the youngest man to drive a Formula One car.

No Mistakes

Webber said Rosberg, winner of the inaugural GP2 Championship - which acts as a feeder series to Formula One - needed to get as many points as he could and make no mistakes.

"It's always hard to say how the season will unfold but I think he's been chosen totally on his merits and his ability to be quick and competitive.

"If he's not ready for Formula One, who is out there that is?" Webber added.

"He's done everything he can, he's ticked all the boxes and dominated the championship this year and done a super job for us testing the car. He's totally ready to go.

"There's not a person on the planet who know what's going to happen next year in terms of the competitiveness of all the teams and the cars, but so far he's done what he can."

Webber had a difficult first year with Williams, after joining from now-defunct Jaguar, but sounded more optimistic about the future despite the team having lost engine partner BMW.

"I think we finished pretty strongly," he said. "Okay, we still have a big gap to bridge to the form teams which were Renault and McLaren.

"But there were some positive things to go into the winter with and I'm really looking forward to (new engine provider) Cosworth and I think that we know as a team what we've got to work on.

"It was a hard season for us collectively. A bit of adversity is never welcomed but you've just got to make sure you learn from it. I'm very confident that next year will be a good step forward."

Williams ended the season in fifth place in the Constructors' Championship.