NOVEMBER 29, 2003

Wurz is out of the frame at Jaguar Racing

Alexander Wurz is to remain test driver for McLaren-Mercedes in 2004. The Austrian, who was negotiating to take the second seat at Jaguar alongside Mark Webber, says that McLaren is his best hope for the future. The decision means that there are only four drivers left in the hunt: Jos Verstappen, Justin Wilson and F1 new boys Christian Klien and Townsend Bell. The team wants a driver who can attract money and Verstappen is well-placed in this respect. He is very experienced but there are elements within Jaguar which do not believe he is the man for the job. Wilson knows the team and would do a good job but he does not have any money behind him and so the team would need to sell him to a sponsor and that is going to be easy. Klien, on the other hand, has the money behind him but no experience at all in F1. The team would like the $15m he has from Red Bull but are worried that he would not be able to perform. Bell is a compromise candidate as he has experience of big-engined cars, having raced in both CART and Formula 3000 and is an American, the market in which Red Bull is most keen to make an impression.