De la Rosa confirmed for Jag race seat in 2002

De la Rosa was dumped by Arrows at the end of January to make way for the Red Bull-backed Enrique Bernoldi. The Spaniard then tested for Prost before Jaguar snaffled him away in February.

"Pedro will be driving for us next year," said Rahal. "There is no plan on replacing anybody at this stage. I told Luciano and Eddie that we are committed to them for this year. As I told our drivers, we just have to worry about today. That will take care of tomorrow."

Although he refused to say which driver de la Rosa would replace, Rahal hinted that Burti would be most likely to go.

"Eddie has a multi-year contract and, for Luciano, he just needs to worry about this year irrespective of whether he was going to stay with us or go somewhere else," added the American. "He has to perform this year for his own benefit, never mind what the team wants. He understands that. I told him what was happening before Pedro was announced and I think we played it very straight with both of them."

Burti finished ahead of Irvine in the Australian Grand Prix in eighth place, although the Ulsterman was delayed in a first lap accident and made an unscheduled pit stop late on.