Thursday September 5th, 2002

CART driver Cristiano da Matta seems to have dismissed a move to Formula One next year after finding his talents undervalued by the Japanese Grand Prix newcomers.

Brazilian da Matta had been tipped to join Frenchman Olivier Panis behind the wheel of a Toyota but the ChampCar championship leader believes his prospective employers to not hold CART in high enough esteem.

"I think I'm staying in CART," he told Autosport. "They (people in F1) don't respect who we are or what we do here. They don't want to pay and they keep talking about me being a test driver instead of a race driver."

It was previously understood that it was da Matta's CART boss Carl Haas who was causing the hold-up in the planned move by asking for a significant compensation from Toyota to pay off the remaining year on the Brazilian's contract.

The comments could leave Briton Anthony Davidson, who has won plaudits for his two performances for Minardi in the last two races, as a prime target, but also puts Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia in the frame.

Published at 13:06:17 GMT

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