Wurz Says Three Teams Hold Key to His Future

Austrian Alex Wurz says his hopes of returning to Formula One next season rest with three teams.

"My future will be with one of three teams," the current McLaren tester and former Benetton Grand Prix driver wrote on his website. "With one of them I am very close already but the key question now is timing.

"I will see how things develop over the next 10 days and then will quite likely make a decision before Hockenheim."

The German Grand Prix at Hockenheim is on July 28.

McLaren have yet to confirm their line-up for 2003 but are expected to continue with Briton David Coulthard and Finland's Kimi Raikkonen.

Wurz, 28, has been strongly linked to newcomers Toyota, who have Austrian Gustav Brunner as their technical director, as a replacement for Briton Allan McNish.

Wurz, the tallest man in Formula One when he drove for Benetton between 1997 and 2000, scored 26 points in 52 Grands Prix with third place in Britain in 1997 his best performance. Austria has not had a Formula One driver since he was replaced by Briton Jenson Button at the end of 2000.