Webber Signs
with Jaguar Racing
Friday, November 01, 2002
Jaguar Racing has announced that Australian Mark Webber (26) and Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia have signed to compete for the team in the 2003 FIA Formula One World Championship. Mark and Antonio replace Eddie Irvine (36) and Pedro de la Rosa (31). These changes are with immediate effect.
"I am thrilled to be welcoming Mark and Antoni to Jaguar Racing for
what promises to be an exciting and new partnership in Formula One,"
said Jaguar Racing CEO and Team Principal Niki Lauda.
"Mark has solid F1 experience and nows his chance to prove
exactly what hes capable of. We have two very different
characters and I have every intention of revving them up in an effort
to extract the maximum from them.
"In Antonio, or Jungle Boy as he has been nicknamed, we
have a very gifted raw racer who will undoubtedly inject a new lease
of life into Formula One. His speed and racing instinct are what
attracted us to him and I have little doubt in his ability to
shake-up the establishment in a big way.
"Team orders is not something we play by at Jaguar and if anything,
these two drivers will be under strict instructions to go out and
fight each other on the race track as well as everyone else,
of course! We are red-blooded racers at Jaguar and from what I have
seen of Antonio and Mark, I am confident of seeing a very competitive
dual next season."
After three seasons with the team, Eddie Irvine (36) makes way for
the new driver line-up and his valuable contribution to the
development and growth of Jaguar Racing is summed up by Niki: "I
cannot thank Eddie enough for his hard-work and commitment during the
last three seasons. He has been with us right from day one and while
there have been some difficult and challenging periods to endure,
Eddies resilience and focus remained throughout. His
experience, speed and race craft are exemplary and the decision to
replace him in no way reflects upon his clear ability as a
competitive racer."
Pedro de la Rosa joined Jaguar Racing in April 2001 and made his
debut for the team at his home race in Spain. "Pedro has
unfortunately struggled with some aspects of the programme and in
simple terms, it hasnt really worked out for either party.
Its unfortunate, yes, but thats Formula One. We wanted to
adopt a fresh approach for next year and our strategy is firmly
geared towards making progress at all levels of the business."
Mark and Antonio first tested the Jaguar R3 in Barcelona earlier this
year during an evaluation exercise aimed at exploring the teams
options for the 2003 season. At the time, Mark Webber was contesting
the season with the KL Minardi Asiatech Formula One team while
Antonio has spent the 2002 season contesting the FIA F3000
Championship. In addition, Antonio has spent the season as BMW
WilliamsF1 Team test driver alongside Ralf Schumacher, Juan Pablo
Montoya and Marc Gene.
"I'm truly excited about racing for Jaguar next season," said Mark. "It is one of the most emotive and successful names in motor racing and one that has a wealth of motorsport heritage. As the latest recruit to join what is a distinguished line-up of Jaguar drivers from the past, I realise my role will be very important in helping the team succeed. It is a phenomenally competitive time in Formula One right now and given the intense development programme Jaguar has in place, it is critical that Antonio and I help accelerate the teams progress over winter so as to be ready for what promises to be a very exciting season given the revised format of the race weekend. Having tested with the team at Barcelona earlier this year and from visiting the Jaguar Racing factory, I know there are a lot of good people involved with the team and we all know what we have to deliver next season."
Speaking from the States where he is preparing to contest this
weekends New York Marathon, Antonio said: "After having spent a
year testing solidly for BMW WilliamsF1, the logical next step was to
secure a race drive for 2003 and to have been given that opportunity
by Niki Lauda is simply fantastic. Jaguar Racing has made
considerable progress in recent months and combined with the solid
work being undertaken right now, I am very excited about racing for
Jaguar next season. My testing role with BMW WilliamsF1 this season
has generated over 14,000kms of mileage and my aim now is to focus
this experience towards helping Jaguar achieve its goals next
season."
Mark and Antonio will begin testing duties with Jaguar Racing after
the winter test ban is lifted from 26th November onwards.
Source: www.fordracing.ford.com.au