By Phil Huff (12/08/2003)
August 13 2003

Jos Verstappen's name has been thrown into the hat for the second seat at Lucky Strike BAR Honda. With Jenson Button confirmed, pressure is on to decide who will drive alongside him, amid rumours that Jacques Villeneuve will be shown the door. A source close to the team says that nothing has been decided for 2004 yet, and many drivers are being considered, including Verstappen, although some are being considered more seriously than others. Among those are Alexander Wurz, Takuma Sato and, of course, Jacques Villeneuve.

Having another Jos in the team could make sense - Verstappen has driven in many teams during his Formula One career, and has shone on many occasions. He's dedicated to the task, and isn't afraid to go testing. Jos is fast, too, dragging points finishes from cars that frankly didn't deserve them, but he's also had his fair share of problems.

Here at BAR-Talk we estimate that Verstappen could bring as much as $7.05 million into the team, which combined with not having to shell out $22 million for Villeneuve, would create a significant increase in the teams operating budget of some 13%.

While Team Principal David Richard and Group Marketing Director Hugh Chambers have managed to put a stop to the losses suffered at BAR, the lack of new sponsors is worrying. At the beginning of the season there were just five paying sponsors on the car, although the situation is improving now.

It looks like 2004 could be a good year...