Davidson high on Midland's list

While Narain Karthikeyan has emerged as a leading candidate for one of the two Jordan seats in 2005 (see separate story), he will have to see off competition from a number of quarters. In addition to its well-documented interest in Champ Car racer Mario Dominguez, the team's new leadership is eyeing the services of BAR test driver Anthony Davidson

Asked how the team's driver line-up was shaping up, Midland's managing director Colin Kolles made no secret of his enthusiasm for Davidson: "We are working on this - we will make an announcement very soon. Davidson is one of my favourite drivers; also for [Midland sporting director] Trevor [Carlin] he is one of the favourites, but it's not only our decision.

"We've been looking at Davidson for a long time but we will see if we can find a solution. It's not that easy. It's not a question of him being expensive, that's not a problem."

Like Karthikeyan, Davidson drove for Carlin Motorsport in British Formula 3 and the Briton is held in high regard by his old boss. In October last year Carlin told Autosport, "Anthony is probably the biggest waste [of talent] at the moment. He's ready to be an F1 race driver - to me it's obvious - and if no one else takes him and he'd like to drive our car then we'd love him to join us."

The problem for Davidson is that he would be taking a considerable risk by leaving BAR when he is well-placed to move into a race seat in 2006 (if Jenson Button goes ahead with his original plan and leaves the Brackley outfit for Williams). On the other hand, in recent weeks Button has indicated that he has not made up his mind whether he will switch teams and there is no guarantee that there will be a vacant seat for Davidson to fill.

The 25-year-old has already drawn the short straw once when he was offered a chance to vie with Nick Heidfeld and Antonio Pizzonia for a Williams drive but was prevented from taking part in testing because of his contractual obligations to BAR.