The Jaguar F1 team are rumoured to be considering replacing Antonio Pizzonia with fellow rookie Justin Wilson for the remainder of the season. After winning a mid-season repreive, Jaguar bosses have again lost patience with the Brazilian who has been comprehensively out-performed by his team-mate and F1 hot property, Mark Webber.
Wilson, who has impressed in his debut season for Minardi, has been linked to the Jaguar team. Current employer Paul Stoddart is known to be keen to help the former F3000 champion on to a bigger team, and would also welcome the compensation fee Jaguar will likely have to pay to the F1 minnows. Wilson has continued the trend of young stars performing well with the F1 backmarker before moving on to larger teams subsequently, with Webber being Minardi's 2002 protege.
A number of problems however are expected to hinder any move for the lanky Englishman. Performance clauses in Pizzonia's contract may not allow the Jaguar team to offload the rookie so early in his contract. A sizeable compensation payment may then be neccesary to buy Pizzonia out of his existing contract, and Jaguar bosses would be forced to pay this on top of any fee to Minardi in order to secure Wilson's services.
Pizzonia has struggled throughout the season, despite performance gains made by the Jaguar team. The improvements have been put to good use by Webber while Pizzonia has dissappointed many. After testing for Williams, the Brazilian was tipped as the next great South American driver to enter F1. Many considered Pizzonia a more likely candidate for F1 glory than countryman Rubens Barrichello.
Should the Jaguar team be able to release Pizzonia from his contract, Wilson could be driving for the team as soon as the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, in a fortnights time.
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