Williams deny BAR claims over Davidson.

The BMW Williams team has denied claims that it 'insisted upon unconditional arrangements' that have seen Anthony Davidson's hopes of racing for the team in 2005 come to an end.

Davidson was due to join Williams in Spain for a test next week with a view to possibly partnering Mark Webber next season, although he faced stiff competition from current Williams test driver Antonio Pizzonia and German driver Nick Heidfeld.

However BAR technical director Geoff Willis announced yesterday [Wednesday] that Davidson would not be allowed to take part in the test, as it would not be in the best interests of the Honda powered team - who have Davidson signed to a long term contract.

"We felt that we had reached a very good agreement with Williams whereby he could drive in 2005, but could be repatriated to BAR under certain specific circumstances for 2006," Willis said. "Williams have insisted on an unconditional arrangement which, unfortunately, is untenable for the team."

However a spokesman for the Williams team told Crash.net that this wasn't the case.

"The claim that Williams 'insisted upon unconditional arrangements' is not correct," he said. "The only request we made was to have an option to retain Anthony as a race driver in 2006 if BAR were unable to offer him a race seat."

With his test cancelled, Davidson is set to be restricted to a testing role in 2005, although it appears likely that BAR is preparing to promote Davidson into a race seat if, as expected, Jenson Button completes a move to Williams for the 2006 season - although such a deal is still far from certain.