Pizzonia under threat at Jaguar

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Wastegate

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After his poor showings so far this year in a car that has been shown by Webber to be pretty competitive, there are rumours that Antonio Pizzonia could lose his seat.

If you were the person in charge of Jaguar (this week!) who would you chose to replace him? I would stipulate some level of F1 experience, after all why replace a disappointing rookie with another rookie?

Also if you were the driver you've just picked would you accept the drive?

You can pick any driver currently with a test contract with another team, since most would get a release from testing if a race seat with another team became available.
 
To get things rolling, I'd pick Takuma Sato.

But if I was Sato, I'd probably continue testing with BAR if I was sure to get a race seat with them in 2004.

Other candidates you might pick are Filipe Massa, Pedro de la Rosa!, Eddie Irvine!!!, Anthony Davidson, Frank Lagorce, Allan McNish, Alex Yoong, Luca Badoer, Alex Wurz and Riccardo Zonta.
 
Allan McNish.

And not really directly related but I'd put McNish back to Toyota and Da Matta to do testing. I'm sure McNish would have got scores already in this season...
 
I would pick sato. I think he is the best, and as a fan, sato vs. webber would be the ultimate competition. a final showdown between last years best rookies.

if I were sato i would not except though, especially if a seat at BAR were sure for next year. although he appears mature, he might be lured by the pressure to drive irresponsibly in an attempt to be faster. i think it could really make or break his career. think about it, webber is being praised by everyone, if sato came in and competed well with him it would say alot about his skills. but ****ting on BAR could **** him for next year.
 
Originally posted by Wastegate
To get things rolling, I'd pick Takuma Sato.

But if I was Sato, I'd probably continue testing with BAR if I was sure to get a race seat with them in 2004.

Other candidates you might pick are Filipe Massa, Pedro de la Rosa!, Eddie Irvine!!!, Anthony Davidson, Frank Lagorce, Allan McNish, Alex Yoong, Luca Badoer, Alex Wurz and Riccardo Zonta.
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Ignoring for the moment Vat_Man's assertion that Wurz is in the frame (which I also had heard)...

Takuma Sato is sitting pretty where he is. He'd be an idiot to jump out of the Honda fold into another troubled team, especially when he's almost certain for a race seat in 2004.

Felipe Massa is under contract to Ferrari AND Sauber, and it's unlikely that they would release him.

Pedro de la Rosa has just signed a long-term contract with McLaren. With the MP4/18A due any time, it's unlikely that they would want to release someone that they had just signed.

Jaguar have publicly stated that they would rather not run a second car than run a second car driven by Eddie Irvine.

Anthony Davidson is available, but since he's been mucking about in sportscars recently, will he be match-fit? And did he really cover himself in glory in the Minardi? I think he was good, but DNFing in both races was not the best strategy and shows race-distance weakness.

Frank Lagorce I don't know anything about.

Ricardo Zonta is committed to the Dallara Nissan World Series, and is unlikely to dump that for a shaky F1 drive.

Alex Wurz is itching to get back into a race seat. Many think that he's the ideal choice since he's physically not that far off Webber. However, it comes down to whether McLaren would release him, and whether he'd want to take the seat. There's a strong possibility that (a) the MP4/18A is going to be the best F1 car ever, and (b) that McLaren will be looking for a new driver at the end of the year. With this in mind, would Wurz put in two years just to throw it away by jumping into the political hot-bed that is Jaguar? Also, since Webber is clearly so good, anyone who steps into that car could immediately be on a hiding to nothing.

It's something of a poisoned chalice at the moment. I bet Jaguar are rueing dumping all their test drivers last year, especially James Courteney.
 
Nice post, Giles. I doubt de la Rosa is in a big hurry to go back to the green team - and I hadn't considered the 'blown off' angle against Webber. The thing to consider there is that with him showing genuine pace Webber's probably a good way down the road to turn Jaguar into 'his' team , and that probably isn't a good environment to step into.

Then again - we are talking about F1 drivers here, and if you're up at that level you've got to back your ability - and in those circumstances an Australian who's shown some speed in qualifying shouldn't be an impediment.

I wonder if young James, currently the class of the field in Japanese F3, hasn't had a call. I still think they owe him something after a Jaguar suspension failure cost him the British F3 championship last year - but I also think another new driver's the last thing they need in there at the moment.

I think Wurz is definitely in the picture - I also think Alex has probably been told he won't be partnering Kimi next year and if he's found a drive it's probably worth a shot - and that if it doesn't work out he can get a gig testing at McLaren in 2004....
 
Originally posted by vat_man
I think Wurz is definitely in the picture - I also think Alex has probably been told he won't be partnering Kimi next year and if he's found a drive it's probably worth a shot - and that if it doesn't work out he can get a gig testing at McLaren in 2004....
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This is true. Plus McLaren are noted for supporting their test drivers if they wish to get a race seat - look what happened with Panis.
 

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