Pantano misses practice

Pantano is managed by Lars-Christian Brask and the bare bones of the dispute seems to be that the Italian's father is attempting to regain control of his career following a dispute. Pantano is under contract to Brask's management company until 2007 and the organisation is believed to have a further five-year option beyond that on their side.

Pantano's father was involved in finding some of the sponsorship for his Jordan drive and solicitors acting on his behalf are refusing to sanction the release of the latest payment due to Jordan. The money is believed to be sitting in an account pending resolution of the dispute.

The Italian consequently missed out on the first session of free practice in Canada and was back at his hotel attempting to sort out the dispute as the cars were preparing to take to the track for the second session.

Jordan's commercial director Ian Phillips said: "It is a personal matter between Giorgio's family and his management and there is no argument with Jordan at all. To be honest, I'm surprised. I expected him to be back at the track in time for the second session. Obviously the banks are shut now, so we are not going to get the money today, but a phone call from the solicitors to guarantee that it will be in our account on Monday morning is all that is required."

Jordan's third driver, Timo Glock, is on stand-by to step in for Pantano if the situation is not resolved head of Saturday morning practice.