14/12/2004
NEWS STORY
It's been revealed that Alexander Wurz is too tall to fit into the new McLaren MP4-20, the Woking outfit's 2005 contender.
At 1.87m, the Austrian is one of the tallest drivers, with only Mark Webber (1.85m), David Coulthard, Gianmaria Bruni, Jenson Button and Franck Montagny (all 1.82m), coming close.
The team has admitted that the MP4-20 has been built with race drivers Kimi Raikkonen (1.75m) and Juan Pablo Montoya (1.68m) in mind, while fellow-tester Pedro de la Rosa is 1.78m.
"Alex currently does not fit comfortably into the MP4-20," admitted a McLaren spokesperson, according to Reuters. "The team is presently evaluating the modifications necessary to accommodate Alex."
This is not the first such problem for the Woking team, in 2003 Wurz had a similar problem with the (now) notorious MP4-19, while the generously proportioned Nigel Mansell missed the first two races of the 1995 season when he could not fit into the MP4-10.
Should McLaren find itself unable to accommodate the former Le Mans winner who has been with the team since 2001, Red Bull Racing would be only to happy to ease him into one of its RB1s.