JANUARY 11, 2002

Minardi's second driver

THE current focus in Formula 1 circles is on who will end up driving the second KL Minardi Asiatech. The team is due to unveil its new car in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, February 23, just a week before the Australian Grand Prix but the new car is expected to be seen running in Europe before then and the driver announcement is likely to come within the next few days, once it has become clear what is happening with Prost.

There has been a lot of speculation in recent days with reports that Justin Wilson may be in line for the drive. The team is testing a group of youngsters in Valencia next week and Christjian Albers, who was the team's test driver last year, is going to be added to the list. The team rates the young Dutchman highly. At the moment, however, Mark Webber is very definitely the man most likely to end up in the car. We would expect an announcement as soon as Prost confirms whether or not he will be continuing his team next year.

If that happens, Heinz-Harald Frentzen will stay where he is and that will mean that Jos Verstappen will not be ousted at Arrows which in turn will leave the Minardi open for Webber.