After struggling again in 2002, and especially after having got rid of their experienced drivers and more recently of their team boss, the 2003 season will be crucial for the Jaguar team. Making his racing debut in Formula One with the Milton Keynes team will certainly not be easy for Jaguar's new boy Antonio Pizzonia. Atlas F1's Graham Holliday reviews the young Brazilian's career and analyses his chances ahead of 2003

When it comes to drivers, there are teams who nurture stability, like McLaren, there are those who succeed through favouritism, like Ferrari, and those who thrive on the vigour of youth, like Sauber. No Formula One team, however large or small, make wholesale team and driver changes without a lot of forethought. The unceremonious ousting of Jaguar drivers Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa after the end of the 2002 season came as a surprise to many, but could just be the stopgap the team need to breathe some air back into a demoralised outfit.

Irvine's contract expired at the end of the 2002 season and although he secured the teams' only podium of the year, a third at Monza, his salary demands (around $8 million per year), his age, (he is now 37 years old) and his often derisory comments about the team (mechanics, designers, management and his teammate all got their fair share) conspired to count against him and any possible contract renewal. The already former Jaguar boss Niki Lauda had warmed the Irishman during his tenure, but even he had to admit that the relationship had delivered little in the way of success and much in the direction of Eddie's bank account.

Pedro de la Rosa's dumping, on the other hand, was a surprise. Even though he hadn't managed to pick up a single point in 2002 he was expected to stay due to a contract stipulating a fairly hefty pay out should the team choose to replace him. Jaguar bosses met and decided to bankroll the dumping of both drivers and freshen up the stable with two young faces in Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia and Australian Mark Webber.

21-year old Pizzonia's pedigree is impressive, but not mind-blowing. Like Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher, Pizzonia cut his motor racing teeth in karts. Having secured three back-to-back Paulista Karting championships by 1994 at the tender age of 14, he quickly progressed through the national ranks to the top flight series. Formula America followed, but Formula One was always his eventual goal and it was in the European formulas the man from Manaus had to compete if he was to get on the fast track to Formula One. A successful period in Formula Vauxhall followed before switching to Formula Renault and the Manor Motorsport team. Once again, success came easy and he won the series. The well worn route continued with the logical next step being the British Formula Three championship in 2000 which he again dominated, securing the title with relative ease.

As with many before him, he didn't take kindly to the transfer from Formula Three to Formula 3000 with the Petrobras Junior Team. The Amazonian known at home as 'Jungle boy' was more chimp than Tarzan on the track. As has been seen in numerous cases before, success in one series doesn't automatically transfer to another and Pizzonia finished in a not too convincing sixth place in the championship.

Importantly for Pizzonia during his time in Formula Three and latterly with Formula 3000, the Formula One moguls were shadowing his every move. Williams, Benetton and Arrows had all tested him in a Formula One racing car prior to 2002. In fact, as early as the 2000 Hungarian Grand Prix, at a time when Benetton, and Austrian driver Alexander Wurz in particular, were patently struggling the Pizzonia rumours went into overdrive.

British tabloid newspaper The Sun claimed that Benetton were eager to replace Wurz with a young talent and quoted 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." The rumours proved to be unfounded as Wurz saw the season out, but the spark of interest had been ignited and it wasn't only from Benetton.

Williams had kept their eye on him. After a shootout with fellow Brazilian Formula 3000 star Ricardo Sperafico the team soon announced that Pizzonia would be taking up testing duties alongside Spaniard Marc Gene for 2002. "We know Antonio well as he has already done some testing for us and he is a good choice in addition to Marc Gene, a very experienced driver," said team boss Frank Williams at the time. "Our engineers were very impressed with the work he has done in the past and so we are sure he will be a great asset to the team." He would continue in Formula 3000, but it was clear the focus was shifting.

Pizzonia's chances of a full time racing seat for the 2003 season only really came to light in August amid the decision from Toyota not to keep their drivers Mika Salo and Allan McNish. The young Amazonian admitted at the time prior to the Belgian Formula 3000 race, "We are talking to a few teams and we are talking to Toyota. We are trying to get a test sorted out fairly soon." Antonio's test was suddenly cancelled and CART star Cristiano da Matta was announced as the partner to Olivier Panis for the 2003 season, leaving Pizzonia out in the cold.

It wasn't until a month later, in September 2002, that Jaguar started to look like a realistic option for a race seat. Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Jenson Button and a plethora of other junior drivers were all names that had been banded about as Jaguar wannabes and a few of them had test driven the 2002 race car, Pizzonia among them. His day with the team at the Spanish Grand Prix circuit didn't do his reputation any harm at all. He set Jaguar's fastest ever time around the Circuit de Catalunya managing to pip Eddie Irvine's 2002 qualifying time at the circuit by just over a tenth of a second. His speed didn't go unnoticed, "Antonio has done a very good job over the last two days," said Jaguar spokesman Nav Sidhu. "His experience and his familiarity with a Formula One car is quite evident and he certainly has potential for the future."

This combination of experience and his relatively low price tag is probably what tipped the balance in his favour. Frank Williams helped convince the doubters at Jaguar, "He is quick enough, certainly, and more than that, as a racer, to be in Formula One. He is quite good at overtaking," Williams said. "He has disappointed himself in Formula 3000 and surprised us at the same time but we rate him very highly and he should have a strong career in Formula One, there is no doubt about that."

Looking at the bigger picture the reasons for signing him are clear. Firstly, he's fast and an acknowledged car developer. He brings with him to Jaguar a great deal of knowledge from the more successful and reliable Williams race car. Married to this is the all too apparent financial reality in Formula One, even for manufacturer teams like Jaguar, who have spent so long attempting to chart a way out of the doldrums throwing good money after bad. Developing a car with low cost drivers is a much more desirable option than shelling out millions for Eddie and still going nowhere.

Last week the team reported that the workforce of some 370 would be reduced by between 30 and 60 as a direct result of the need to cut costs. "We have recently concluded an evaluation into all activities of Jaguar Racing to help the team achieve the best results in the current economic climate," said spokesperson Sidhu. "Our research shows no sign that there will be a recovery in the economy, but this is not a crisis. It is early corrective action after some months of research."

Jaguar didn't need months of research to know that shedding the salary ballast of their two experienced drivers would create huge savings. For his part Irvine thought the decision was "bizarre". Especially following the sacking of Lauda this week, the team now face another uncertain season, the success of which rests on the calculated gamble of their new driver partnership.

That potential which was evident early on to Patrick Head and Frank Williams (so much so that they reportedly want him back in 2004) must be realised in 2003. Whether or not he can shine over the course of a Grand Prix weekend or outpace his highly regarded teammate has yet to be seen. Of the new Formula One recruits only Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber so thoroughly involved themselves like Pizzonia has in testing prior to taking up a full race seat.

Unlike Alonso, Pizzonia also managed to keep his race senses tingling as he coupled Williams testing with F3000 racing and it is this, if anything, that may give the Brazilian the edge he needs to get noticed come Albert Park in March.