Davidson's future still open

Davidson finished the day 0.88s quicker than BAR team mate Jenson Button, who was second fastest, and was surprised that he had such a margin.

"I expected the Ferraris to be a bit quicker than they were," he admitted. "I don't know what their game was, but you can never underestimate them. But I was really happy with my car - it felt really good and not just on old tyres. The long run that I did, the times were great, but it felt mega on new tyres as well."

Third drivers have more sets of tyres available and use more revs on Fridays but Davidson added: "I think my run was comparable to Jenson's. I can't say what we were up to, but Jenson did his time on old tyres, so that really throws everything up in the air for everyone else trying to figure out what we were doing."

The young Briton, hoping that his 2004 performances will earn him a full race seat in 2005, admitted that the Jaguar situation has narrowed his options but denied having any concrete agreement for 2005 before owner Ford's pull-out announcement last week.

"We were in talks with Jaguar and it looked quite promising but we hadn't signed anything," Davidson said. "There's fewer teams to choose from now and we can't be as confident as we were considering what has happened with Jaguar. It's all up in the air and I don't know what's going to happen. Are they going to go, or aren't they? I've got no idea.

"All I know is that I've got a safe testing contract in my pocket next year and if I get a race drive, it's a bonus. You've got to look at it like that otherwise you just get too upset if it doesn't happen. If not, then the crazy racing world continues for another year or two, I suppose...."