Webber and Pizzonia at Jaguar?

[vat_man]

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns07309.html

Well, at least there's some testing experience there - interesting that Frank might have parked another 'spare' driver....

 

[GilesGuthrie]

This is also in today's Sun newspaper. Now obviously The Sun is not to be trusted for anything except a nice pair of breasts on Page 3, but in this instance, there may be a grain of truth, since their F1 columnist ghostwrites Eddie Irvine's column.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

From the bible:

Jaguar signs Webber and Pizzonia

All-new line-up confirmed for 2003

Jaguar has confirmed that it will drop experienced duo Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa for 2003 in favour of rising stars Mark Webber and Antonio Pizzonia.

The pair have long been tipped as the favourites for the drives, but the double-signing rested on Jaguar reaching a settlement with de la Rosa, who still had a season to run on his contract. Irvine's deal had already run out.

Team boss Niki Lauda said: "I am thrilled to be welcoming Antonio and Mark to Jaguar Racing for what promises to be an exciting new partnership in Formula 1.

 

[vat_man]

I saw this was confirmed overnight.

I think these bodes very well for Jaguar - two experienced development drivers. Pizzonia is a bit of an unknown quantity, but Webber's steady and reliable - they could make a big leap next year.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

They're certainly likely to have a more positive effect on the team than the outgoing drivers, whose characters seemed destined to not really engender progress.