Minardi drivers Mark Webber and Alex Yoong head to Indianapolis this weekend and what for both of them could be their penultimate race with the team.

Minardi boss Paul Stoddart has already confirmed that there will be no race seat for Yoong in 2003, and while he is believed to have an option on Webber for next year, the highly-regarded Australian driver is widely tipped to change teams at the end of the season.

But regardless of his future plans, Webber's focus will be on one thing only this weekend - his first appearance at the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"The history of the place is something that is special to me," said Webber. "When I visited the track in June, there was nothing going on, but the atmosphere was very special. The Speedway is huge. Even when you are flying into Indianapolis, you can see the Speedway from the air.

"It's another new challenge, and I am really looking forward to going to Indy. To build a circuit inside an oval was a challenge, so they have done a great job within the parameters they had."

Meanwhile, Yoong will begin Friday's first practice at Indy with an advantage over Webber - he has competed there before. The 2001 US Grand Prix was the second race of the Malaysian's F1™ career and though he failed to finish, the experience should stand him in good stead come Sunday.

Yoong's team mate at Indy last season was 2003 Renault driver Fernando Alonso. The young Spaniard surprised many in the paddock by qualifying his PS01 an impressive 17th on the grid.

For Minardi it was the highpoint of a weekend run in the shadow of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Stoddart admitted he had been sceptical about attending the event, but with hindsight said racing was the best thing they could have done.

"I was one of the people who was apprehensive last year so soon after September the 11th," he said. "I wasn't sure if we should have gone or not, but I am so glad that we did.

"What a wonderful race, what a wonderful crowd turned up and what a wonderful way just to get on with life after such a terrible event. It's a fantastic track that is fantastically steeped in history. I had a fantastic time there."

Minardi's best result to date in the USA came in 1988 when Pierluigi Martini finished sixth in Detroit. The following season in Phoenix he recorded the team's only front-row grid position when he qualified second behind Gerhard Berger's McLaren.