Wilson Must Make his Point Quickly

New Jaguar signing Justin Wilson may have as little as three races to convince the Formula One team to keep him on next year.

Team boss Tony Purnell said today that even though there were five races remaining in the Championship, the Briton's fate would be decided sooner.

"The decision will have to be made before the end of the season, to be honest," he told reporters at the Jaguar factory. "It's going to be a complicated equation but that's Formula One."

"His chances are equal or better than most," added Purnell. "If you are sitting in the seat then you are always in a good position."

Wilson, 24, will make his Jaguar debut at Hockenheim in Germany next week after moving from Minardi to replace Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia at the Ford-owned team.

"Three races is not a long time but it is three races more than you sometimes get," said the rookie. "It's a question of whether they can see enough of me and what I'm like in that time. I don't know how they are going to make their decision. I'm just going to do the best job I can."

The tallest driver in Formula One has at least been assured that he will fit into next year's car.

Wilson, whose 6ft 3in (1.90 metres) height has dogged his career, made sure of that after being sneaked into the factory last week for a secret midnight fitting in the current R4.

"If he can fit in this year's car, he'll fit in next year's," said managing director David Pitchforth.

Wilson said he had been haunted by the memory of last year, when Minardi lined him up as a replacement for Malaysian Alex Yoong only to find that he could not fit into the car.

Quite Nervous

"I was obviously quite nervous because every time I sit in a new car it's quite a nerve-racking experience, you don't know whether you are going to fit or not," said Wilson. "I was pleasantly surprised when I did get in.

"It was going through my mind that the last time I went to sit in a new car it didn't work straight away."

Wilson's manager Jonathan Palmer said the driver would be paid a bonus for every point scored rather than collecting a salary. Jaguar have 12 points so far, with Australian Mark Webber scoring all of them, and are sixth overall.

"I'm not going to sit back and relax," said Wilson. "I'm going to keep pushing as hard as I can in all the races that I've got and make sure that I underline what I can do.

"If they think that's good enough at a certain time then great. If not, I still have to try to do the best that I can to get a job elsewhere. I hope to be close to Mark at the end of the race. I know he's very strong so I don't think I'm going to outqualify him or outrace him in the first race."