 Jaguar Rule Out Castroneves for F1 Seat Tuesday October 1st, 2002 By Alan Baldwin
Spokesman Nav Sidhu said Williams test driver Pizzonia, 22, was the only Brazilian on a team short list for any vacancy that included Minardi's highly-rated Australian Mark Webber. "(Castroneves) is not even on the list, never was," he said. Castroneves, who races in the U.S. Indy Racing League (IRL) for Roger Penske's team, was earlier quoted by the ESPN.com website as suggesting that Jaguar might be interested. He said Penske had told him he was talking to Jaguar and he had spoken to former champion Jackie Stewart, who retains close links with the team. "I want to know what's going on and I don't have any offer yet but if it's serious I'm going to go after this," said Castroneves, a popular racer nicknamed 'Spiderman' for his fence-climbing antics after winning. Pizzonia, who comes from the Amazonian city of Manaus, raced in Formula 3000 this season as well as testing regularly with Williams. He impressed Jaguar with his speed at a trial in Barcelona before the U.S. Grand Prix. Testing Vacancy Sidhu stressed that the shortlist was also for a vacancy as a test driver, a job carried out largely by regular drivers Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa this year. Pizzonia, with his Williams experience, has a gilt-edged background for that role. "It's not just the two guys lining up on the grid in Melbourne. We are also looking for a solid experienced Formula One test driver," Sidhu said. Jaguar have plenty of options, with Briton Irvine reaching the end of his contract with the team and still to announce his plans. Irvine's recent results, including a third place finish in Italy, have shown that the 36-year-old still has the speed to succeed. Jaguar had a nightmare start to the season with an uncompetitive car and Irvine has said he would not want to go through another season of struggle. But the R3 has been completely overhauled since then and team sources said the Northern Irishman clearly wanted to continue racing next year. Although de la Rosa has a contract for next season, speculation has begun to grow about whether the Spaniard will stay after failing to score any points this year. Webber remains a front runner, with Minardi boss Paul Stoddart saying last month that a move was imminent. Although team boss Niki Lauda suggested last week that an announcement should come soon, Sidhu said there was no time pressure. He recalled that Williams had waited until late January of 2000 before announcing Briton Jenson Button as their driver for that season. The board of Jaguar Racing are due to hold a regular meeting on Friday, though Sidhu said it had not been called for any specific purpose.
Published at 17:09:18 GMT
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Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia could be in the frame for a Jaguar Formula One drive in 2003 but his compatriot Helio Castroneves has no chance, a team spokesman said on Tuesday.
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