When he drove out of the pits at Magny Cours with half the fuel rig still attached, he really should have just kept going… out the circuit, on the freeway and back to Holland. The fact that the British GP was just a week after the French race was the only reason you saw Christijan Albers in a Spyker again.

When the teams arrive at Spa to test next week, expect to see a new face in the car – one with a big, fat wallet in the pocket of his race suit. The Dutch team are desperate for some  money, but they are also deeply in need of someone with a cool head (to cut down on the repairs) and technical knowledge (to develop the car). Young Adrian Sutil is fast and talented, but they need someone that can give Mike Gascoyne and the crew some much needed feedback.

So rather than young Markus Winkelhock, expect to see a team “loan out” a driver until the end of the season (thus saving Spyker some wages too), like Christian Klien from Honda or Narain Karthikeyan from Williams – or Marc Gene from engine supplier, Ferrari.

Either way, Christijan Albers will be watching the European GP with most of the rest of the world – on TV.

– mczf1