Williams driver saga

With most of the paddock taking it as read that BMW Williams will have two new drivers next year, technical director Patrick Head hinted strongly in Monte Carlo that the team will favour experience over youth in its '05 driver selection.

There is little doubt that Williams would like to sign Jaguar's Mark Webber and Head said: "I don't know him that well, but quite clearly he's very capable and has a very cool head on his shoulders. He appears to have the make-up of a driver we'd be interested in, but he has the potential of a prior call on his services in 2005 and only the future will tell whether he might be available."

Even if, as looks likely, Jaguar does not fulfil the performance criteria necessary to keep Webber, the Australian is under contract to a management company linked to Renault boss Flavio Briatore, which may complicate any negotiation with Williams.

Jacques Villenueve and David Coulthard are both experienced former Williams drivers who are available and can boast 24 race wins between them, with '97 world champion Villeneuve claiming all 11 of his race victories with the Grove team. Either man in a team alongside Webber could be regarded as a solid solution for Frank's team, at the right price.

On the subject of his current driver pairing, Juan Montoya and Ralf Schumacher, Head said: "We would have been happy had we stayed with the same two drivers. Frank is very strong about not discussing private matters in public, but obviously a driver's aspirations for their salaries and our willingness to meet those aspirations, didn't work."

A huge list of drivers has been linked to the team, including regular F1 test drivers such as Williams' own Antonio Pizzonia and BAR's Anthony Davidson, as well as young up-and-comers who do not have regular F1 test seats, such as Nico Rosberg. Head, however, said: "It's only really possible to take on somebody young and in their first year if you know that you are not going to be a championship competitor.

"There is a lot of interest, especially after Thursday, about Anthony Davidson and whether he should have a full-time F1 seat. It is actually quite difficult for the test drivers because, as we saw at Monza last year, Marc Gene did a very respectable job for us and because he only found out he was driving on Saturday morning, he felt that he could have done a lot better than he did do.

"And despite the difficulties he had last year with Jaguar, I suspect that Antonio Pizzonia would do very well if he was in one of our cars as well. Obviously in the case of Antonio, who steps in our car and every time he tests is at least as quick as our two race drivers, you can see the problems he had last year (at Jaguar) and it's difficult to work that one out.

"A driver needs to be so much more than just a good driver. To actually deal with every situation he's presented with and bring it together in the final qualifying lap is very difficult and maybe Antonio was just a little bit too young at the time he did get into F1. Whether he gets another bite at the cherry in the future, we'll see. But in truth if you are looking for a driver and you want to be confident that he can win races, there is nothing that beats somebody having done it previously."