Herbert kicks the cat

The 35-year-old's retirement in Montreal, due to transmission problems, was his fourth of the season. His highest 2000 finish so far has been ninth.

"The car is almost exactly the same as the one we had in Melbourne," he said. "There has been almost no development at all and I am not aware of any more coming. Cosworth are bringing out a new engine in time for Austria, but that's it. All we have done this year is get on top of the engine reliability problem, but we're still having everything else break.

"Really this team is still Stewart. There have been no staff changes since last year after all. Jackie and Paul have gone, but that's it. This is still a small team - if you look at Stewart's history, it was all crap apart from last year, when they lucked into a good car."

Herbert took Stewart's one and only Grand Prix victory, in last year's European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. His options for next year could include Champ Cars or the Indy Racing League, with a manufacturer sports car programme as an outside bet for the former Le Mans 24 Hours winner.