Pizzonia Relishing 'New Start' with Jaguar

Jaguar driver Antonio Pizzonia says this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix marks a fresh start in his Formula One career and he believes that given a reliable car he can score his first points in Sunday's race.

The Brazilian rookie has been told his seat with Jaguar is safe for the rest of the year and he responded by outpacing teammate Mark Webber in early morning testing and practice sessions. He was ninth in the afternoon qualifying session and, although Webber managed to fight his way to third fastest time, Pizzonia reckons he could have been just as quick had his car not suffered brake problems.

"I had some problems during the morning and they continued into qualifying," said Pizzonia. "My brake pedal was too soft and it was difficult to gauge how hard to press it. I lost all the time in qualifying in the first three corners. If we can fix it for tomorrow, and I'm confident we can, then I think we could be higher on the grid. There is a chance of points here."

In what the paddock saw as a PR blunder, Jaguar had let slip they were thinking of replacing Pizzonia just five races into his Formula One career following disappointing results in the opening four rounds. There was widespread condemnation of Jaguar's plans from within the paddock which gave Pizzonia a vote of confidence and Jaguar backtracked and confirmed the Brazilian for the rest of the year.

Pizzonia says the atmosphere within the team now is much calmer, enabling him to focus on his driving. And in tests at the Paul Ricard Circuit and Mugello he has made changes to the car to suit his driving style.

"I drive the car differently to Mark, and we've made some big changes to it, around the front suspension, which helps with the way I drive the car," said Pizzonia. Asked if he had changed his approach to Formula One following his turbulent few weeks trying to rescue his place in the team, Pizzonia said: "Maybe, a little bit.

"In a way, it was probably quite a good experience for me, but it's certainly something I didn't expect so early into my career. I think people in the paddock and all the other teams could see the problems I was having, but people here couldn't see that.

"I don't think the problems were with adapting to life in Formula One, I think the problems were with Jaguar. I think they have probably learned quite a lot from it. Today, both cars in the top 10 is good for the team. This is a new start for myself and now I can concentrate on doing my job in the car."