Interview: Gene Hopes for F1 Return to the Top

New Williams test driver Marc Gene hopes to be back on the Formula One grid with a top team in 2002 after two seasons as a back-marker with Minardi.

"It could be that I am here two years but I hope to be a test driver only one year," the Spaniard said, appearing at a Go-Kart event in London on Friday organised by Williams's sponsors Reuters.

"Now in Formula One there are four teams that have not confirmed their drivers yet -- Minardi, Prost, Sauber and Arrows," said the 26-year-old, who signed for Williams late last month after 33 races with Minardi.

"There is a big fight there and that is where the young drivers want to step in. I think that I have moved out of this, this is a past side of Formula One now (for me).

"I hope that I don't have to move in to a bad team. I hope really that my next step is in a team with an official car manufacturer.

"Time will tell if I was right in choosing this option or I should have chosen one of the four teams that still have not confirmed, because I was talking to them too at the same time as Williams.

"I had an option to race or test and I chose test. Today I am more convinced than ever that I made the right choice."

Gene, who signed a one-year contract with Williams with a further option, said he had first discussed the move into testing with team boss Frank Williams before the season-ending Malaysian Grand Prix. Gene, the only driver to score a point for Minardi since 1995, went on to one of the most impressive drives of his career in that race at Sepang when he held off Williams driver Ralf Schumacher for some 20 laps.

Job Well Done

Gene also kept twice World Champion Mika Hakkinen behind him in the more powerful McLaren for three laps.

He said Williams's interest before the race had boosted him out on the track.

"I have to say that during the race, at a certain moment I thought 'Well, if I am to get this drive I am certainly doing a good job today'," he recalled.

"Frank Williams said he believed that race was very impressive from my side."

Gene said Williams had told him that he wanted an experienced race driver as his tester, someone who could be as quick as regular drivers Ralf Schumacher or Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and step in at short notice if need be.

"He said he wanted someone to push very hard and to push the team's drivers," he said.

Gene's 2000 Minardi team mate Argentine Gaston Mazzacane has yet to secure a drive for next season but has been linked to Prost. The Spaniard said he would have no problems in watching Mazzacane race while he remained on the sidelines.

"I would like to see Gaston race, with Prost or with Arrows or Minardi, because I believe he is a very quick driver.

"But obviously when the first race starts and the cars get off the grid and I won't be there, that won't feel good."

On the plus side, Gene said he would have more time to test with Williams than he ever had with Minardi.

"Last year we did seven days testing in the whole year (with Minardi). In December alone I'm going to do 11."

He said the biggest difference between Williams and Minardi, apart from about 60 horsepower more and greater top speed, was organisation and timing.

"The most difficult thing for Minardi is the timing. They never know what is going to happen next week," he said of a team that has yet to say what engine it will use next season or who is going to drive the cars.

McLaren or Ferrari, by comparison, confirmed their drivers halfway through last season.