Tuesday 29 July at 14:26 : Team co-owner and boss Gerhard Berger has ruled another possible contender out of the frame for Sebastian Vettel's seat at Toro Rosso next year.

Reportedly among the top candidates for the race ride are Bruno Senna and Sebastien Buemi, with Renault test driver Roman Grosjean as a dark horse.

Berger, who owns the Faenza based outfit alongside Dietrich Mateschitz, has in recent interviews played down speculation that drivers including Salvador Duran and Karun Chandhok might also be in the frame.

Former ten-time GP winner Berger is also unlikely to be nationalistic about his choice, as he tells motorline.cc that no Austrian driver is currently ready to race onto the grid.

"It is really only a question of getting the fastest drivers we can into the car. If that is a Chinese, then we get a Chinese, and if that is an Austrian, then we will get an Austrian.

"At the moment I don't see any Austrians standing at the front of the queue."

The most prominent Austrian in the junior classes of open wheel racing at present is Andi Zuber, who has raced in GP2 since 2006.

"He is very fast but missing a bit of consistency," Berger said.

"What I always say is that someone in GP2 who wants to be in F1 needs to win the championship."