Wurz and de la Rosa looking at options
McLaren boss Ron Dennis confirmed at Interlagos on Sunday that the team will not stand in the way of their two test drivers if either is approached by a rival team over a race seat for next year.
Austrian Alexander Wurz and Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa, who have both raced in Formula One before, are both contracted to the team and have taken part in the Friday test driver role during this season.
But the team will no longer be able to run a third car in practice at Grands Prix weekends next year because they are guaranteed to finish in the top three in the constructors` championship.
"It is absolute policy that we will not stand in the way of a driver`s career and if the opportunity for those guys to race comes up then we will encourage them into those opportunities," said Dennis. "We have clear contractual positions with all our drivers and the test drivers are two of them. It is too early to know whether either of them have been offered opportunities."
The driver merry-go-round has started to spin again this week after BAR Honda confirmed Jenson Button will drive for them next year, leaving unconfirmed places at Williams, the new BMW team, Jordan and Minardi for next year.
Wurz, who raced for Benetton from 1997 to 2000, spoke to Jaguar Racing about replacing Antonio Pizzonia in 2003 but was persuaded to stay with McLaren and has stayed there ever since.
De la Rosa, who raced for Arrows in 1999 and 2000 and Jaguar in 2001 and 2002, joined the team in a second testing role last year and has shared the third driver role with Wurz all season.
Wurz has often been in high demand by other teams and rumours earlier this season linked him to a possible 2006 drive with Jordan, who will re-brand as Midland next season.
Dennis hinted that one of the drivers may be surplus to requirements next season, although it is now not unusual for teams to have two test drivers even without a third car at races.
"Any decision of how we will use the drivers are going to be very much linked to the testing agreement, the number of races and the lack of a third car, but it is too early to know what we are going to do," Dennis stated.
Dennis is most concerned that a rival team could be keen on offering one of the pair a drive simply to glean all the information they have about the workings of the front-running team.
"There is an obvious attraction for our two test drivers because they have a tremendous amount of valuable knowledge of the car, the systems, the developments," he admitted. "To a certain degree I do feel they are a little bit vulnerable to being pulled into another team, sucked dry of the information and then discarded. I and they will be mindful of that if those opportunities present themselves."


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