Third Driver Rule Could Change in Sauber's Favor

Liuzzi in the C23
By Jamie Makin
April 12 2005

The third Friday driver rule, created at the start of the 2004 season, was designed to limit teams to using relatively inexperienced drivers. To be eligible to pilot a team's third car, a driver cannot have competed in more than six grands prix in the past two seasons.

Red Bull Racing owner Dietrich Mateschitz is now seeking to change that rule. He recently announced that F3000 champion and Red Bull test driver Vitantonio will take over Christian Klien's race seat for at least the next two grands prix. Klien, however, is ineligible for the Friday drive as he has raced continuously since the start of the 2004 season. Mateschitz says he has the approval of Renault and BAR and is now seeking the support of the other teams.

If the rule should change, it could open new possibilities for team SAUBER PETRONAS as well. The team have been rumoured to be seeking a third driver of their own for some time now, but have found few candidates who can meet both requirements of bringing funding and experience.

Peter Sauber recently saw his hopes of signing Timo Glock go down the drain when the former Jordan F1 pilot moved to the American Champ Car World Series. Former Minardi driver Nicolas Kiesa appears to be the best choice at the moment but a rule change could expand the driver choices to include others who have recently left F1 after racking up a lot of experience. The list could then include drivers such as Jos Verstappen, who missed out on a drive in Champ Car but could bring the SAUBER team the needed experience and funds.

Peter Sauber should wait to see what develops and consider additional options before adding a third driver to the SAUBER team.