Pizzonia Slams Jaguar on Eve of GP Comeback

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia reopened old sores on Thursday as he prepared for a Formula One comeback with Williams at the German Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old, a stand-in for injured German Ralf Schumacher at the BMW-powered team, made clear that he had not forgiven former employers Jaguar for dumping him in his debut season last July.

"The treatment is totally different," he told reporters when asked to compare the two teams. "The way they (Jaguar) used to treat me there was like shit, to be honest. Here it is a different world. I feel not only respected as a racing driver but as a human being."

Pizzonia was dropped after 11 races when he failed to score a point as team mate to highly-rated Australian Mark Webber.

"I think last year was probably putting too much pressure on me and after I left I found out a lot of things that I didn't know about the team and the car," Pizzonia said. "I found out things that I didn't have on the car and that the other driver had. We didn't have the same treatment.

"Basically they didn't have a lot of money, and I think they still don't, and it's a lot easier to develop one car quicker than trying to develop both at the same time.

"I used to get parts one or two races later...some of them I knew about but most I didn't," said the Brazilian, who felt that Jaguar's Austrian rookie Christian Klien was suffering similarly.

Both Jaguar managing director Dave Pitchforth and Webber rejected Pizzonia's comments.

Jaguar Denial

Pitchforth called the allegations "absolute nonsense" while Webber said he would "swear on my mother's life that we had the same equipment."

"The drivers have equal cars today, just as they did before and always will have while I am in charge," Pitchforth told Reuters. "Both drivers have absolutely equal parts. If we can only make one of something then we won't bring it to the circuit.

"I can absolutely categorically deny that there was any favouritism. There's a lot of hard working people at Jaguar that will be very hurt by these comments," he added.

Pizzonia said his main aim now was to score points for Williams, struggling in fourth place after finishing last year as runners-up to Ferrari, rather than thinking about the possibility of a drive next year.

"I feel quite relaxed to be honest and very confident and I'm sure I'll be doing a good job here," he said, adding that the Jaguar experience might have done him good in the long run.

"I know this car really well, I did a lot of mileage in the car, I know the team really well. I think that's going to be the biggest difference for sure. And the car is obviously better than what I was driving last year."