De la Rosa casts shadow over Scheckter

De la Rosa was announced as the third driver for Prost Grand Prix two weeks ago, but as confirmed by Autosport.com yesterday (Monday), the Spaniard pulled out of the deal at the last minute, favouring a guaranteed race seat with Jaguar in 2002. (Click here for separate story).

The Big Cat has confirmed that de la Rosa will test for the Milton-Keynes-based team this year with a view to racing in the future. The move will serve to motivate race drivers Eddie Irvine and Luciano Burti, since one of the pair could be forced to give up his race seat as early as the end of the 2001 season.

More immediate, however, is the threat to Scheckter, who was signed as the team's development driver in September last year. De la Rosa has been brought in to help develop this year's R2, in order to address the car's evident lack of speed during winter testing.

"Pedro demonstrated last season that he is a quick and able driver," said team boss Bobby Rahal, "and his input will be invaluable as we develop our R2. By hiring Pedro, we are sending out a clear signal of our intention to develop Jaguar Racing into a championship challenging team in the future."

Scheckter has only spent two days in the new car since its launch in January and on both occasions was more than two seconds slower than Burti. The young South African is also known to want to step up to the race team next year and is prepared to go elsewhere should there be no available seat.

"I don't want to be a Formula 1 test driver for two years no way," Scheckter said at the R2's launch. "If I don't get a race seat with Jaguar [in 2002], I will definitely look at other options."

The Jaguar team is testing today at Silverstone, where Irvine and Burti are shaking down two race cars and a T-car before leaving for Australia at the end of the week.