No change on third driver rule

The decision was confirmed at a meeting between team principals, F1 tsar Bernie Ecclestone and FIA president Max Mosley in London today (Friday). It means that several drivers, including Justin Wilson and Allan McNish, could be forced out of the sport if they fail to land either of the two vacant race seats at Jordan.

"The rule wasn't changed," Jaguar boss Tony Purnell told Reuters. The team had considered running Wilson as its third driver this season.

"It's rather disappointing. I can't see that the sport benefits from locking out drivers of Justin's ability. But that's the way it is. I thought there was a little bit of a chance because I thought it was good for the sport, but that wasn't everybody's view."



New Friday testing rules introduced for this year allowed the bottom six teams in the world championship standings to run a third car.

However, in order to please bosses from the leading teams, it was ruled that the driver of the third car must not have competed in six or more races over the past two years, to ensure that they couldn't take on the bulk of a team's set-up work.