Wheldon looking to test this off season

[chunterer]

Granprix.com reports that Dan Wheldon might be about to have a full tilt at getting an F1 drive of some description next year.

The story suggests that he will endeavour to test for teams over the winter rather than risk getting stranded in the States for too long and miss the boat so to speak.

How likely is it that he'll get a test berth let alone race drive with the current momentum behind the likes of Hamilton and to a lesser extent, AD?

[Mystery]

Test berth absolutely guaranteed, in my view, if he is now willing to accept that a test slot might be all he can get next season. Lewis and AD seem to have drives locked up, which leaves only seats at STR, Spyker and BMW.

Spyker is probably a non-starter since I don't know how much cash Dan could bring, and I get the feeling the team wants to throw itself behind Albers so there's no sense in going there.

BMW have a list of drivers as long as your arm already contending for the seat, but was it not rumoured that Dan was in contact there last year. Could be an outside bet.

More likely I think would be STR although again they have drivers in situ, and if I'm not mistaken the numbers in the Red Bull junior programme have thinned out a bit in recent months. Also, I think Dan would fit Red Bull's image well and he might make a nice replacement for Webber or DC in '08.

[BootsOntheSide]

I would have thought RBR and STR have enough drivers who are still being pushed towards F1 for thewm not to need to bring in an outsider. getting a full-time test role for 2007 looks unlikely - Honda could be the only possibility.

[Ranald]

What about the reserve driver role at Williams next season. FW has said that Karthikeyan is only a test driver and that they are looking for someone. Having said that Williams could take a driver from the Toyota driver development programme, in exchange for a bit of a discount on their engines.