2010 options for Rosberg

Negotiations about the future of Nico Rosberg have begun, as the German eyes moving up the Formula One pecking order next year.

The 23-year-old started his career with Williams in 2006, and Sir Frank Williams revealed in February that, after the 2007 season, McLaren had made an offer of "majestic proportions" to sign Rosberg to be Lewis Hamilton's teammate.

Rosberg, however, instead signed a two-year contract extension with the Grove team to take him to the end of this season.

But despite always singing his praises, Williams figures whispered a hint of puzzlement and perhaps miscontent with Rosberg after last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

Mere dozens of hours after that, the driver has been quoted in the specialist media as admitting he is currently in the process of "looking at" his options for 2010.

Several times in assessment of Rosberg's Barcelona form, Williams referred to "inconsistency" that blighted his run to an expected fifth place.

Ultimately, he finished eighth, and in a team-distributed review of the Spanish race this week, an interviewer noticed that Rosberg's lap times had been "a bit erratic."

"Nico's lap times were somewhat inconsistent, yes, and we are now looking carefully through all of the data and bodywork parts to determine what caused that," said Technical Director Sam Michael.

Engineering boss and team co-owner Patrick Head, meanwhile, had said immediately after the race: "Nico's pace was initially good but we then struggled to maintain consistency so we'll have to investigate that."

"I had a very good first few laps but, after 10 laps or so, I started to experience a problem at the rear of the car," Rosberg explained last Sunday. "Something inexplicable would just happen and affect the balance which caused a lot of oversteer. Oddly enough, it would then be OK again."

Interestingly, the three extra points for finishing fifth instead of eighth would have leapfrogged Williams ahead of both Ferrari and BMW Sauber in the constructors' standings.

Instead, the team is ahead of only Toro Rosso and the non-scoring Force India.

Michael added: "Even if we think we have a faster car than how we currently stand in that table, the constructors' order is what the overall performance of our team is measured by."