Chief designer Zander leaves Williams

LONDON, Mar 24 (Reuters) Chief designer Joerg Zander has left Williams for personal reasons, the Formula One team said today.

''It's purely for personal reasons, there's no other underlying reason,'' a spokeswoman said. ''He wanted to go back with his family to Germany.

She said the former world champions were in no hurry to replace the designer, who joined from BAR last year, and his departure would not affect the development of the current FW28 car or the design of next year's FW29.

''(Technical director) Sam (Michael) believes the technical structure we have in place is strong enough to withstand it in the short term,'' she added.

Williams have made a strong start to the season, despite losing engine partners BMW last year, with Australian Mark Webber finishing sixth and rookie Nico Rosberg seventh in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

The two drivers filled the second row of the starting grid in Malaysia last weekend before retiring with engine and hydraulics problems.

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