One in particular when his car somersaulted into the crowd at Donington

One, in particular, when his car somersaulted into the crowd at Donington Park in April 1990, made him older than his years. It’s when things go wrong that extra experience can be a benefit.”McNish has weathered worse experiences than mere defeat. I want to succeed in this as much as anything else.”I’ve certainly taken a bizarre route to get here, but I’ve gained a lot out of the journey and I know I’m a better driver now than I was 10 years ago in terms of my tactical thinking, in my ability to work with engineers, my ability to drive the car, learning circuits, coping with the pressures of the team and the media, all those sides of it When you’re Jenson’s age, you just get in and drive. But I’m not looking at Formula One as a bonus or treating it casually, as if I’ve got nothing to lose now. With or without Formula One, I’ll look back on my career in motor sport and think, ‘That wasn’t bad’. I remember at the end of his first year in Formula One, he stood up at the Scottish Motor Club dinner and said that there were several people in the room who could have done at least as good a job as he had done That’s a big thing to say and he needn’t have said it. David’s character makes it very difficult to be envious of him anyway.

If I didn’t think, ‘That should’ve been me’, I wouldn’t be a racing driver, but I wasn’t envious. He stepped into Senna’s seat and there was a lot of pressure on him, but he took his chance brilliantly. Sometimes it’s good to struggle.”The same with David Coulthard. I think Jenson will be quicker than last year because, sometimes, that hard year is the making of a driver. I’m quite happy with my circumstances and there’s no point in thinking like that, it won’t make me go quicker. Coulthard, who was one of the first to ring with congratulations, has won 11 grands prix while his old mate has been finding the way.”I’ve never really thought about it in terms of Jenson or Raikkonen or Alonso, never thought, ‘Well, I’ve put in the miles and they haven’t, oh, woe, Allan McNish’. Both were well into their thirties when they became world champions.

“Soon,” as Ralf Schumacher drily remarked, “you won’t be needing a driving licence to do Formula One.”McNish has put in the hard yards and takes heart from the late arrival into Formula One of Damon Hill and the belated flowering of Nigel Mansell. Whether he was authorised to make those investments is one of the questions now.”A lawyer representing Mr Rusnak said he was willing to co-operate with investigators and would show he was not acting for personal gain. These he disguised by falsifying faxes from other banks, an offence that carries a potential 30-year jail sentence and a $1m fine.An FBI official who interviewed Mr Rusnak explained: “He said he was investing in various enterprises and the stock market dropped on him, so he tried to recoup the losses and he just got deeper. Although he was supposed to be only trading foreign exchange for clients, he is believed to have speculated on the stock market, using equity derivatives as well as buying options on the dollar-yen exchange rate. Though he did not turn up for work on Monday, and has been suspended, he has not been dismissed and so must still be paid.FBI investigators are starting to gain a picture of how Mr Rusnak lost $750m. It is expected to take 30 days.Meanwhile Mr Rusnak will remain on the payroll of Allfirst, drawing his $85,000-a- year salary.

AIB’s chief executive, Michael Buckley, has also ordered an independent inquiry into the scandal. John Rusnak, the rogue trader who lost $750m (£532m) at the US subsidiary of Allied Irish Banks (AIB), was gambling the bank’s money on the stock markets, investigators have discovered.
Agents from the FBI have been interviewing Mr Rusnak since Thursday and are starting to gain a picture of how he managed to lose $750m despite only having a trading limit of $2.5m.AIB has started its own investigation, sending out its treasurer Pat Ryan to find out what happened at Allfirst, which is based in Baltimore, Maryland. He is 32, a delightful counterpoint to the current fashion for hotshots like Button, Fernando Alonso, Felippe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. McNish was recruited to test again, but with the promise of a Formula One drive if he proved his worth.Late last year, the Scot was confirmed as Mika Salo’s partner in the new Toyota Formula One team. Victory at Le Mans for Porsche and in the American Le Mans series two years ago pitched McNish back into the champions’ market and brought him to the notice of Toyota, who were planning a big-budget challenge in Formula One. McNish had more years than he cares to remember in that circular wilderness until he decided to trade his Formula One dreams for the feeling of winning once more, and went sportscar racing.But there is one more twist. There have to be more soul-destroying jobs in sport than test driving a Formula One car, but it is hard to think of them So near, yet so far.