Davidson granted Jaguar test.

According to rumour in the Nurburgring paddock, Mark Webber is not the only promising youngster to be testing with Jaguar in the coming weeks.

Although no date has yet been set for an outing in the R3-Cosworth, British American Racing has apparently given its test driver Anthony Davidson permission to run with the Milton Keynes team, as it continues its search for young talent - possibly for 2003.

While speculation continues to surround the future of Eddie Irvine, both at Jaguar and in F1 generally, it also appears that perhaps team-mate Pedro de la Rosa's tenure at the team is not a solid as first thought, despite rumours that the Spaniard had signed a three-year extension to his current deal.

Jaguar boss Niki Lauda is apparently reconsidering his line-up for next season - another which could be a crunch year for Jaguar - and could replace his two 'veterans' with a pair of young chargers. Fernando Alonso set the ball rolling when he blitzed his countryman in similar circumstances at a recent test, and Minardi's Mark Webber is slated to test with the team in Spain next week.

Davidson has been running with BAR for close on two seasons, having elected to eschew a second season in F3, or one in F3000, to concentrate on his and the team's F1 development. A former karting champion, the Briton came out on top of BAR's first driver development programme and is now a regular member of the test team, having finished runner-up to former team-mate Takuma Sato in the British F3 Championship in 2001.

His inclusion in the Jaguar test programme also confirms the belief that the team would like to run a British driver next season. It has been widely linked to Jenson Button, but the Renault driver is expected to stay put for 2003, despite being seen in discussion with Niki Lauda at the Nurburgring this weekend.