APRIL 19, 2005

Wurz in for Montoya

Alexander Wurz will make a return to Formula 1 at the weekend, driving the second McLaren-Mercedes-Benz. It will be Wurz's first drive in a Grand Prix since the end of 2000 when he left Benetton.

Alexander Wurz will make a return to Formula 1 at the weekend, driving the second McLaren-Mercedes-Benz. It will be Wurz's first drive in a Grand Prix since the end of 2000 when he left Benetton. Since then he has been a fulltime test driver with McLaren. Now 31, Wurz should have been drafted in to replace Montoya in Bahrain but it was decided that he was too cramped in the cockpit of the MP4-20. The cockpit of the cars has now been modified to allow Wurz to fit comfortably and he will be keen to make an impression at Imola.

The fact that Montoya is not back in action underlines that the injury was rather more serious than was described in Bahrain and tends to support the theory that the Colombian did not just fall over playing tennis.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes Montoya to return.