DECEMBER 11, 2003

Jos needs to hurry

With Minardi having two seats in F1 in 2004 but a lot of drivers keen on landing a deal, Jos Verstappen needs to move quickly if he is to remain in F1 next year. At 31, Jos is now one of the oldest F1 drivers around with only Olivier Panis (37), Michael Schumacher (34) and David Coulthard (32) being older. Verstappen has been fortunate in that he has been able to find money from his native Holland and this has enabled him to keep a drive while many others have failed to find the cash needed to be in the back half of the grid. Verstappen was hoping to land a drive with Jaguar Racing and has also had a lot of talks with Eddie Jordan but all the signs are that Jos will end up back at Minardi.

Minardi boss Paul Stoddart says that he would like to keep Jos in the team but admits that in the end it is probably going to be down to money.