Sunday April 30th, 2000

The Benetton Formula One team issued a formal denial of recent reports, which indicated that it plans to replace Alexander Wurz with young Brazilian F3 star, Antonio Pizzonia. A spokesman for the team said: "There is no truth in the report that we are signing Antonio Pizzonia. We have not spoken to him, he has not visited Benetton and there isn't any plans to arrange a meeting with him."

The British tabloid, The Sun, ran a report on Thursday claiming that Benetton are eager to replace Wurz with a young talent, quoting a team insider as saying, "Williams have shown everyone that it's worth taking a gamble on a new talent and Antonio fits the bill perfectly."

19 year-old Pizzonia is rated highly, having won the first two races of the British F3 championship season in his first year in the formula.