By Alan Baldwin

LONDON (Reuters) - If Rubens Barrichello is Formula One's old master, then rookie Nico Hulkenberg will be the Brazilian's eager apprentice at Williams next year.

"We wanted to put someone quite experienced and strong and a grand prix winner next to Hulkenberg so that he develops properly," technical director Sam Michael told Reuters in a telephone interview after the pair were confirmed on Monday.

"We didn't want him to come in as a rookie and not have that support.

"He (Hulkenberg) will ... get to look at someone who is a multiple grand prix winner and look at how they work and how they blend the team around them and get the team to do the best job for them," added the Australian.

While 37-year-old Barrichello needs no introduction, having started more races than any other driver and also finished championship runner-up twice at Ferrari, 22-year-old German Hulkenberg is the team's big hope for the future.

Managed by Willi Weber, who also took care of Michael Schumacher's career, he has won every series he has entered so far; karting, German Formula BMW, A1 GP, Euro F3 and GP2.

"Inside Williams we have a big spreadsheet which basically maps a driver's achievements from the age of eight and the reference in that spreadsheet has been Lewis Hamilton because of what he did from eight years old to get into F1," said Michael, referring to McLaren's 2008 champion.

"Basically Nico Hulkenberg has been on exactly the same path, coming up obviously through different countries.

"There's no point in putting a rookie in the car unless you think he can be a world champion," continued Michael, whose team will be switching from Toyota to Cosworth engines.

OLDEST DRIVER

Barrichello, the oldest man now in Formula One, won two races with Brawn this year and worked with Michael at Jordan more than a decade ago. He has also been friends with Williams and team co-owner Patrick Head for years.

The deal took nobody by surprise and Michael said it was done with both drivers months ago.

"It was something we had on our target a long time ago and really it was pretty straightforward when those options came up," he said.

"We were pretty certain when we did it that it was the right thing and everything that has happened since has just reinforced our view more and more."

Barrichello has said he hopes to have a competitive car next year and last weekend in Abu Dhabi described Williams as a team on the rise.

They finished seventh this year, losing sixth place to departing BMW on Sunday, in a disappointment for a team with higher hopes before the season started.

"We hope we can produce a winning car for them next year, that's definitely our target," said Michael. "We developed the FW31 very hard and fast this year and kept pace with all the current teams.

"We think if we continue that trend over the winter and come out strongly next year we'll get them the best opportunity they can of being successful."

Michael said Barrichello had already "injected a lot of energy" into Williams.

"It's the sort of thing the factory feeds off once they realise how committed somebody is and Rubens is definitely of that mould," he said.

"He's such an enthusiastic, committed person and that's really encouraging for a team like Williams because he doesn't care about anything except for driving grands prix cars and all he wants to do is win races.

"We think as a car package we can definitely do a lot better (in 2010) than we did this year," said Michael. "Rubens has come into a situation where I think he feels he can make a big contribution to that.

"Frank and Patrick were the keenest of anyone to sign him which gives him a lot of confidence as well."