Is Mika Salo the Substitue?
13.7.99

Salo has already stood in at BAR this season, giving them their best result so far.

Reuters news agency has reported that Ferrari have asked Finland's Mika Salo to test their Formula One car in Italy as a possible temporary replacement for the injured Michael Schumacher.

"He has been asked for a test. What that means we don't know," Salo's manager Mike Greasley told Reuters. He said the 32-year-old Finn, who has driven in Formula One for Lotus, Tyrrell, Arrows and BAR, had left for Italy on Monday afternoon and was likely to drive the car for the first time on Tuesday.

Ferrari have also been testing at their Fiorano track with regular test driver Luca Badoer, who drives for the Minardi Formula One team. They said in a statement that they hoped to name Schumacher's replacement on Tuesday to give him the maximum amount of time to become familiar with the car.

"The decision will probably be announced as soon as tomorrow to allow the driver to carry out tests for the Grand Prix in Austria as soon as possible," the statement said. The Austrian Grand Prix is on July 25.

France's Jean Alesi earlier ruled himself out of the reckoning, saying he would love to return to the team he drove for from 1991 to 1995 but not in the current circumstances. "I would love to race for Ferrari but only if Michael was there too," he told Italian RTL radio.

If the quick and experienced Salo were to replace Schumacher, it would be a further twist in a remarkable season for a man who lost his drive at Arrows in the week before the first Grand Prix of the year in Australia. The 32-year-old was then called up by the BAR team to replace injured Brazilian Ricardo Zonta, who cut a tendon in his foot in practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix in April. He competed in three races in all. Salo achieved BAR's highest finish of the season so far, seventh in the San Marino Grand Prix in April. He was also eighth in Spain at the end of May.

Ferrari would give him by far the best car of his career and a chance to match his talents with the machinery.

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