Gene in Ferrari link

It is understood that Gene will hold talks with Ferrari later this week with a view to joining the world championship winning team alongside Luca Badoer next season, having held preliminary chats with the outfit during recent testing at Jerez in Spain.

Gene has been a test driver at Williams since the start of 2001 and impressed the outfit with his dedication and technical feedback - especially with his work on developing BMW's V10 engines.

He even surprised most of the paddock who had written him off as a race driver with an impressive fifth placed finish in the 2003 Italian Grand Prix as a stand-in for the injured Ralf Schumacher - despite missing the first day of running.

However, his relationship with the Williams team changed this summer when he failed to impress during the French and British Grands Prix as temporary stand-in for Schumacher again. He did not score any points and was replaced by Antonio Pizzonia, who finished three times in the points and was robbed of a podium finish in the Belgian Grand Prix by a gearbox problem.

Sources claim that Williams has decided not to renew Gene's contract beyond the end of this season, but the Spaniard has wasted little time in offering his services elsewhere. He was seen speaking at length to Michael Schumacher at Jerez recently - and is notably absent from the Williams line-up for this week's running at the Spanish circuit.

The capture of Gene by Ferrari would be quite a major coup - because of the vast databank of knowledge the Spaniard has of Williams' ultra-powerful BMW engine and the team's Michelin tyres.

Williams has already decided to retain Pizzonia as test driver for next year, and speculation suggests that Nick Heidfeld is now a favoured option as a second tester. Talks are already understood to have taken place.