Originally posted by Wastegate
To get things rolling, I'd pick Takuma Sato.
But if I was Sato, I'd probably continue testing with BAR if I was sure to get a race seat with them in 2004.
Other candidates you might pick are Filipe Massa, Pedro de la Rosa!, Eddie Irvine!!!, Anthony Davidson, Frank Lagorce, Allan McNish, Alex Yoong, Luca Badoer, Alex Wurz and Riccardo Zonta.
Ignoring for the moment Vat_Man's assertion that Wurz is in the frame (which I also had heard)...
Takuma Sato is sitting pretty where he is. He'd be an idiot to jump out of the Honda fold into another troubled team, especially when he's almost certain for a race seat in 2004.
Felipe Massa is under contract to Ferrari AND Sauber, and it's unlikely that they would release him.
Pedro de la Rosa has just signed a long-term contract with McLaren. With the MP4/18A due any time, it's unlikely that they would want to release someone that they had just signed.
Jaguar have publicly stated that they would rather not run a second car than run a second car driven by Eddie Irvine.
Anthony Davidson is available, but since he's been mucking about in sportscars recently, will he be match-fit? And did he really cover himself in glory in the Minardi? I think he was good, but DNFing in both races was not the best strategy and shows race-distance weakness.
Frank Lagorce I don't know anything about.
Ricardo Zonta is committed to the Dallara Nissan World Series, and is unlikely to dump that for a shaky F1 drive.
Alex Wurz is itching to get back into a race seat. Many think that he's the ideal choice since he's physically not that far off Webber. However, it comes down to whether McLaren would release him, and whether he'd want to take the seat. There's a strong possibility that (a) the MP4/18A is going to be the best F1 car ever, and (b) that McLaren will be looking for a new driver at the end of the year. With this in mind, would Wurz put in two years just to throw it away by jumping into the political hot-bed that is Jaguar? Also, since Webber is clearly so good, anyone who steps into that car could immediately be on a hiding to nothing.
It's something of a poisoned chalice at the moment. I bet Jaguar are rueing dumping all their test drivers last year, especially James Courteney.