Paffett eyes McLaren test role

Speaking at AUTOSPORT International today (Sunday), the reigning German Formula 3 champion believes that the Woking-based squad, for whom he tested at Barcelona last month, offers his best bet of graduating to the top echelon of the sport.

"At the moment we are talking with McLaren to trying to get something sorted," he said. "They are still interested in me and I hope we might be able to arrange something over the next few weeks. My link with McLaren goes back to karts, when they backed the Champions of the Future series. A test deal with them would be ideal for me."

Paffett has also been in talks with British American Racing and Jordan, but BAR's signing of Takuma Sato as its test driver appears to have stymied any chance of a deal.

On the subject of a race chance with Jordan, Paffett said: "It seems like you will need a couple of million to race with them, which we haven't got, but we've got good links with Ford [Jordan's engine supplier]."

Paffett hopes that if he does seal an F1 test deal he might be able to keep racing this season, possibly in Formula 3000.

"It would be a case of seeing what fits in with the test programme," he said.