APRIL 2, 2004

The driver market on April 1 2004

At the moment there are a lot of interesting rumours about who is going where in 2005. What is known is that Ferrari will remain unchanged and that Juan Pablo Montoya will join Kimi Raikkonen at McLaren. Renault will retain Fernando Alonso but the future of Jarno Trulli is far from settled. Ralf Schumacher is in heavy negotiation with Toyota and is unlikely to stay at Williams, while Mark Webber is top of the Williams list. The second drive at Williams could go to anyone but Scott Dixon, Jenson Button and Antonio Pizzonia are all possibles. Button however says that he is going to stay at BAR-Honda.

The second Renault drive is under discussion and our sources say that Flavio Briatore is keen to keep the Italian despite the fact that he has been somewhat overshadowed by Fernando Alonso in the last 15 months. This would mean that there would be no room for France's Franck Montagny and no room for Mark Webber.

Toyota is trying to get a deal nailed down with Ralf Schumacher and it would seem likely that Olivier Panis will move on. Cristiano da Matta needs to improve his performances if he is to stay onboard for another year. There have been whispers in recent days that Toyota has been sniffing around Scott Dixon.