Pizzonia: Pressure comes from within

The Brazilian's position in the Jaguar team has come under threat after three underwhelming performances in the opening races of the season and he has been regularly out-paced by team-mate Mark Webber.

"I feel I can be as good as anyone out there," the under-fire F1 rookie said in Barcelona, "I just need a bit of time."

Whether Pizzonia will get that time is highly debatable. Jaguar Racing MD David Pitchforth told the media in Spain: "Everyone in the whole place is under review, whether they are laying up carbon fibre in the composite shop or driving. Whatever, they have to perform."

Pitchforth admitted that there has been high-level talks with Alexander Wurz, however, and with the Austrian GP next on the schedule - a home event for Wurz if he was to replace Pizzonia - the team could not confirm its line-up for the A1-Ring.

"I don't know. The decision has not been made yet," Pitchforth said.

Pizzonia himself claimed that nobody had discussed the situation with him either prior to Imola or after the San Marino Grand Prix, although discussions with his management did take place. Up and down the pitlane, the consensus seems to be that Pizzonia should be given more time but Pitchforth explained that detailed analysis within the team was based on valid, factual comparisons.

Commenting on Pizzonia's performances with Jaguar so far, he said: "Antonio tested pre-season and he did extremely well. He got the lap record at Valencia and you don't do that if you can't drive a racing car. But, at the moment, he has struggled a bit more than Mark with the new regulations."

One scenario is that Pizzonia, who has a contract for the year, will continue to test for the team with Wurz coming in as race driver to partner Webber.