Jaguar Impressed with Pizzonia

Young Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia may well have placed himself firmly on Jaguar's list of options for 2003 driver line-up, having impressed the team in testing at Barcelona on Friday.

"Antonio has done a very good job over the last two days," said Jaguar spokesman Nav Sidhu. "His experience and his familiarity with a Formula One car is quite evident and he certainly has potential for the future."

Pizzonia, who currently competes in F3000, has a testing contract with Williams but a source close to Jaguar admitted they would be "stupid" to ignore his obvious talent and suggested he is now a strong contender for a race place next year.

Pizzonia, who had trouble seeing over the cockpit on the opening day of his test on Thursday, said: "We made a new seat last night and I was much more comfortable.

"I was sitting so low yesterday, at least today I can see over the steering wheel. I only managed half a day due to a problem with the car but it was a good day and I am very pleased considering how little time I've had."

Jaguar are currently evaluating their driver options for 2003, with Irvine out of contract at the end of this year. They tested Australian Mark Webber earlier in the year, but it is now understood that his deal is not as certain as it seemed last month.