F1 News - Spyker's Second Seat
17/11/2006
Following Anthony Davidson's confirmation as a Super Aguri driver in 2007, the spotlight is on the second seat at Spyker F1, one of only two remaining drives in Formula 1 next year.
Dutchman Christijan Albers was confirmed as one of the Bridgestone-shod Dutch team's drivers at last month's Chinese Grand Prix and his 2006 team-mate, Tiago Monteiro, is favourite to retain his seat. But several other drivers are in contention, including Robert Doornbos, Gary Paffett and Adrian Sutil.
Doornbos - a Dutchman - completed the last three races of '06 with Red Bull Racing, Paffett comes with a year of McLaren testing under his belt, while Sutil is the only known quantity to Spyker F1, having driven for them during Friday's practice at three grands prix last year.
"F1 is the place to be as a racing driver," says Sutil, who won the Japanese Formula 3 Championship last month. "I love to be in the F1 paddock and to be able to drive those cars. I hope that I can get at least a real test driver's job next year, where I can do all the Fridays and all the test work, and after that for sure I want to race."
Sutil impressed in each of this three outings for MF1/Spyker, particularly at Magny Cours where he placed the team's M16 inside the top 10 in each of the Friday practice sessions.
Spyker F1 have said that they hope to make an announcement about the identity of their second driver in the next couple of weeks.