Williams Drivers Support Pizzonia

BMW-Williams driver Ralf Schumacher says that he has been surprised by the pressure his team's former test driver Antonio Pizzonia has felt since the Brazilian joined Jaguar at the start of this season.

Pizzonia tested for Williams last year and impressed the team with his cool temperament and his accurate feedback but his drive with Jaguar is now under threat after a difficult start to the 2003 campaign. The fast but erratic Brazilian has crashed out in two of the four races and Schumacher believes Jaguar should give him more time.

"I'm surprised that he gets so much under pressure," said Ralf today at Barcelona. "I'm sure they should give him more time, definitely. He's new to Formula One, but he showed with us that he's quick and I must say that I'm pretty sure that if he gets the time and if he settles down a bit and concentrates on his job he will eventually to do his job.

"He will be very quick, he is quick. Maybe in testing he was just a little bit slower than Juan and myself, but still very quick. He is a great talent but he just needs more time."

Jaguar bosses have already made an approach to McLaren-Mercedes for the services of more experienced racer Alexander Wurz, of Austria, who is currently test driver for the Woking squad. This weekend's Spanish Grand Prix could be Pizzonia's last race and Schumacher's teammate Juan Pablo Montoya has spoken out about the lack of support given to the young Brazilian from Jaguar.

"Jaguar don't have the right people to guide him, to tell him what to do," said Montoya. "He needs quite a bit of support because if he loses his mental battle then he is done for. When you are down mentally then physically you're not going to do your best job. And if it's like that then you're going to struggle. If he does bad here then it's looking really bad."