Wurz gets third Monaco McLaren despite shunt.

Alex Wurz will return to the three-car McLaren line-up for the opening day of this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix, despite suffering a high-speed smash during last week's group test at Paul Ricard.

The Austrian returns in place of Spanish team-mate Pedro de la Rosa, who was handed the reins of the third MP4-20 for his home race in Barcelona last time out. Prior to that Wurz had claimed fourth place - later upped to third following Jenson Button's exclusion - at the San Marino Grand Prix. de la Rosa topped the times on the final day of testing in France last week, after Wurz had endured the accident which wrecked his car and forced organisers to revert to an alternative track layout.

"I am happy to be back behind the wheel of the third car this weekend," the Austrian admitted, "I have had the opportunity to race there three times before and it was a great experience, so I am looking forward to driving the MP4-20 on Thursday.

"Despite my accident during Friday's test session, we had a good test overall at Paul Ricard, with my work focusing on tyre selection with Michelin. Mechanical grip is key in Monaco, as a result of the low speeds and the track layout. Grip levels are quite low, but they do tend to increase as more miles are put in on the track and more rubber has been laid down, so our work on Thursday will be as important as always."