Karthikeyan or Kiesa for 3rd Williams seat

UPDATE See Hot News page with announcement that Karthikeyan will join team for their next test. No word on whether he will be their Friday driver. We suppose he is auditioning. 11/26/05 Williams is on the verge of naming its 2006 'Friday' driver.

Sources indicate that India's Narain Karthikeyan is the front runner for the pay-drive, although Nicolas Kiesa (Denmark) is also believed to be offering around $7.5m to the Grove team.

With less cash to offer, the highly rated Anthony Davidson and current McLaren test driver Alex Wurz are also believed to have courted Sir Frank Williams, while former Minardi driver Robert Doornbos is healthily backed.

''We're still talking to Williams,'' Karthikeyan's manager Piers Hunnisett said, ''but we've had discussions with BMW as well.''

Williams, to run with a Cosworth V8-powered FW27 at Barcelona, will apparently confirm the new signing ahead of the first test of the winter off-season period, to kick off on Tuesday.