Friday 2 May at 12:40 : The F1 team Honda's chief executive Nick Fry has offered to open talks with Danica Patrick about a test drive in the near future.

The 26-year-old American said late last month she was "dead set" on eventually joining the grand prix circus, following her recent breakthrough win in the IndyCar series.

"We haven't instigated anything, but if Danica wanted to be test driver then we'd be more than happy to talk about it," Fry is quoted as saying in the British magazine Autosport.

Patrick said she would consider any offers of a "proper" test drive, after turning down a run in the BAR-Honda at Indianapolis in 2005 because she feared it was a mere "publicity stunt".

"Every driver would love to drive a formula one car at some point in their life, so yeah," she said.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with a real, proper test."