Valuable year for Wirdheim

A year as third driver for Jagaur has given Bj?rn Wirdheim valuable experience, not only as a driver but also of what it's like to work with a big team. The 24 year-old Swede joined Jaguar after winning the F3000 championship in 2003, and drove in the Friday practice sessions of Grand Prix weekends for the team.

Bjorn Wirdheim.

Photo by Jaguar Cars and Wieck Media Services, Inc..

"The transition to F1 wasn't easy but I expected it to be quite difficult and a big step so it wasn't a huge surprise," said Wirdheim, according to the Jaguar website.

"What was good was that the engineers and the whole team made a big effort to me to get into it and get everything on board as quickly as possible. Working together with such a big organisation was the main difference in the step up to F1 from F3000."

"When you're with a junior formula you're used to working with a group of maybe ten people so it's a bit different in Formula One, because you also have to learn how to communicate with all those people, because there's so much going back at the factory and so many engineers and people there that want your feedback."

"Before I was only used to communicating with my engineer and talking to him about the car whereas now there are so many other people who want to know what you think. I would say it's helped me to become a more experienced and complete driver and taught me how to work with a big organisation."

Wirdheim's future is uncertain and, like Jaguar, he is waiting for news. “I’ve no plans for next year at the moment,” he said. “I’m contracted to the team until the end of the year and that’s it for now. I have a bit of holiday now and winter testing, if it all goes ahead, will be intense with Christian and myself down to do all of it. So I’m just relaxing at the moment and waiting to see what happens!”

"We’re looking at different alternatives and what feels most important for me at this moment in time is to race next year. First of all though I’m going to wait and see what happens with Jaguar and then after that, when I know if there’s an opportunity, I’ll look into what other series there are and make a decision."