WHELDON AND F1

While he tears up the Indianapolis 500 practice track, the 26-year-old retains a lofty desire to make it to the pinnacle of racing.

He shares a manager, Julian Jakoby, with McLaren's former Indy 500 champion Juan Pablo Montoya, who - despite the Colombian's absence at Bahrain and Imola - still met with several grand prix teams.

Wheldon countryman and DTM driver Gary Paffett, meanwhile, has outlined a similar desire to find a future on the Formula One grid.

"I know," he said in the German media, "that I will some day drive in grands prix." -GMM