JULY 24, 2004

Gary Paffett and Sauber

There have been stories in recent days about British hopeful Gary Paffett getting a chance to drive a Sauber later this year and our sources say that it is quite likely that the 23-year-old English driver will be seen at the wheel of a third Sauber in Friday testing for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Sauber has said all along that it would run a third car if the money was available to pay for it and it seems that Paffett would have the backing from Mercedes-Benz for any F1 programme. There are several reason why this is a good idea for the Stuttgart car maker: it will help promote the German DTM touring car series in which Paffett is currently competing and will also help to improve the image of the Mercedes young driver schemes which have become less attractive in recent years because the company has not found its drivers work with the top teams. Both Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber were Mercedes-Benz drivers but went their own way to make it in F1.

Sauber is currently saying that there is no deal with Paffett.

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