Giorgio Pantano

Giorgio Pantano has enjoyed an unusual route to F1, but he finally made it this year by bringing finance to Jordan. After a shaky start he looked a little more at home in Bahrain, and as the season moves back to Europe - and the tracks he knows so well from F3000 - he's going to have to start performing.

Usually a driver who has to pay his way into a lesser team is hoping that he might impress the big boys and perhaps even land a test, but Pantano has done it the other way round. He's already been tried by Benetton, McLaren and Williams, and none of them bothered to follow up.

A huge star in karting, Pantano shone in German F3, and at the end of 2000 had his big chance with Benetton. Jenson Button had begun a gold rush for young talent, and while the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso were picked up, Pantano didn't impress the right people on that or any other subsequent outings in F1 cars.

He went into F3000 in 2001, and spent three years in the series. He actually won two races each season, and his total of six victories cannot be overlooked. In 19 years of the category only Nick Heidfeld and Juan Pablo Montoya have beaten that, with seven wins apiece. However he sometimes lacked consistency, and might have benefited from being in stronger teams.

At the end of last year he swore that he would never return to the category, but there seemed very little chance of him landing an F1 seat. However, his backers fronted up and he emerged as a surprise candidate for Jordan, getting the nod when negotiations with Jos Verstappen fell apart.

He didn't get much testing, but nevertheless it was a surprise when he was so far off the pace of team mate Heidfeld at the start of the season. He looked more like an Alex Yoong than a guy who is still potentially good enough for a top seat somewhere.

The move to F1 is never easy, but to do it in a car which is as uncooperative as the 2004 Jordan has clearly been tough. What's more, Heidfeld is clearly very motivated to make an impression and find his way back into a better seat, and that has made life tougher for Giorgio.

It also appears that he's not the sort of guy to set the world alight first time out, which perhaps explains why his earlier one-off tests didn't lead anywhere.

"I didn't have a lot of testing before the first two races," he explains. "I had five days, which was not a lot. I had to learn the car and learn the circuits. It was quite hard work. It's a faster car than F3000, and it's difficult to understand it very soon."

Bahrain was better, not just because he's finding his feet in the team, but also because the new track made it more of a level playing field. The Italian continued ran with Heidfeld for part of the race, and continued his learning process by logging his third finish in as many starts.

"I suppose on Friday I found a good set-up, but then we tried to change something on Saturday and went the wrong way. And you can't change back for the race. Unfortunately, we had to go like this for the race, but Friday was going very well.

"Still, the race was quite good. Probably Nick was quicker on the first two or three laps with new tyres. He had less downforce. But then I was probably quicker than him during the long run.

"I've got more confidence in the car. The feeling is coming now. Not just the feeling with the car, but also the feeling with the engineers. They probably understand more about what I need with the car. We have to try to do our best and improve the car the best we can."

At least things are moving in the right direction, but Pantano has to continue to show well against Heidfeld if the Jordan drive is to lead anywhere. What's more, there are other candidates for his seat, even within this season. Imola will be the first of a run of four tracks that he knows well, and racing in is home country will be a big boost.

"I like the track a lot, and know a little bit more, because I've tested there. But mostly I'm looking forward to being more close to my team mate."