MOTORSPORT: Just four races into the new Formula One season and already the driver merry-go-round is beginning to crank up, with rumours this week that Antonio Pizzonia could be on his way out of Jaguar after this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.
The Brazilian was signed in the close season on the back of an impressive testing record at Williams but has so far failed to impress at Jaguar, registering a sequence of non-finishes and errors that have raised eyebrows at the Ford-sponsored team, which appeared oblivious to his poor season in F3000 last year.
That the Brazilian is being totally eclipsed by impressive team-mate Mark Webber is also giving the Milton-Keynes based team cause for concern. Over recent days the team has made no secret of dissatisfaction with Pizzonia, team spokesman Nav Sidhu being quoted on Monday as saying there was no denial that the youngster's position was "under review".
So if Pizzonia does depart Jaguar after this weekend's event in Barcelona, who is likely to be his replacement? All the heavy betting thus far has been on McLaren test driver Alex Wurz. The Austrian has not raced since 2001 when he closed out a long partnership with Giancarlo Fisichella at the old Benetton team, now Renault. Wurz's time at Benetton, like Fisichella's, was unproductive, the team suffering a slow decline from the glory years of 1994 and 1995 when Michael Schumacher brought two championships. That he was also regular beaten out by Fisichella also seemed to go against his future hopes.
But in a season and a half of testing at McLaren the Austrian's star has risen again as he has proven himself capable of competing with times set by David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen. That Fisichella has come to be recognised as one of the grid's top pilots has also put Wurz's Benetton performance into some kind of perspective.
A transfer to Jaguar may be difficult. Despite the fact that most team test drivers have a clause in their contracts requiring release if a race drive becomes available, McLaren may be unwilling to let their tester go at this stage of the season. With the team's new MP4/18 not due for it debut until the Canadian GP on June 15, much work is still to be done on the new challenger and continuity in evaluation via Wurz will be of some importance to McLaren. Installing a new tester at this stage may be detrimental to the project.
There are signs though that Wurz will move. Dutchman Christjian Albers has just been promoted to a drive with the Team AMG Mercedes German Touring Car outfit at the expense of regular driver Uwe Alzen.
The promotion, from the semi-works Rosberg team, is a boost up the Mercedes hierarchy for Albers and could represent a show of faith in a driver they may install as their F1 tester.
Whatever happens, it looks like crunch time has arrived for the Pizzonia, the Amazonia-born driver they call "Jungle Boy". Now he'll have to prove he's got what it takes to be king of the F1 jungle.