"I know he [Jacques Villeneuve] is capable of great things," David Coulthard told The Daily Record, "but unless we see a big improvement by Imola it wouldn't surprise me to see him walk away or be encouraged to."

"It would be good to have another Brit in Formula One and Anthony Davidson is an able, fast racing driver," said David Coulthard, before adding, "If you were to ask me if he is the next Schumacher... then I would say no, he's not."

Schumacher's heir or not, Davidson has been linked with a job at Sauber for some weeks, with speculation that he could replace Villeneuve being disregarded just two days ago. Sauber, a team that is struggling financially in 2005, would need to pay off both BAR and Villeneuve should they wish to remove Jacques from the seat.

If Villeneuve left by choice, the team would need only compensate BAR, saving a significant amount. However BAR would not be prepared to release Davidson to Sauber without an option to retain the driver in 2006.

With Jenson Button still looking likely to move to Williams in 2006, there will be a spare race seat at BAR. Davidson would be an attractive option to the team with a further 15 or so races under his belt.

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