APRIL 3, 2002

Sauber looking for a test driver?

THE Sauber team said at its launch that there is no need for a test driver, but sources within the team say that this is becoming a disadvantage as all F1 drivers have a tendency to have a "mental hangover" for the first couple of days after a Grand prix and do not produce the results that the team wants to see in testing. Thus you rarely see a race driver appearing in a car before the Wednesday or the Thursday after each Grand Prix.

With the escalation that is going on in testing at the moment, Sauber wants to test as much as possible and is now looking at hiring someone to do the early days of each test. Jos Verstappen was the perfect candidate for the job but he did not fit in the car and the team felt that rebuilding cars for the sake of a test driver was extra work that was hard to justify.

The team is scouting around quietly for possible candidates with the focus being outside F1. The team has had a habit in recent years of plucking youngsters out of relative obscurity and putting them into important roles.