Wilson moves to Jaguar

celticfc

Justin Wilson has completed move to Jaguar from Minardi today replacing Antonio Pizzonia for the rest of the season Starting from the next race @ Hockenheim, Germany. It also gives options for next season at Jaguar.

Pizzonia is to continue with Jaguar as a test driver for the rest of the season.

Minardi are to replace Wilson in Hockenheim with Dane Nicolas Kiesa, winner of the Formula 3000 race in Monaco this year.

See here for more info

Robbo

Apparently this has been on the cards for a while but they had to do a clandestine seat fitting just to be sure recently. Given Wilson's height, it would have been a bit silly to announce it all and then not have him able to fit in the car.

Fair play to him though, he really went out on a limb to finance that Minardi drive which he used to put himself in the shop window.

chernobyl

Originally posted by Robbo

Fair play to him though, he really went out on a limb to finance that Minardi drive which he used to put himself in the shop window.

it was very clever marketing but i doubt wilsons investors/believers will see the full return on him. .....just an early bet that he will only ever be an "also ran".

celticfc

Great move though , especially if he manages to work that ford as well as Mark Webber does.

Doe any body know much about Dane Nicolas Kiesa (I wonder if he'll turn out like Alex Yoong. Remember him ? Total disaster)

Kalina

It's great news for JW, he has loads of talent and the potential for him to score points will be realised at Jaguar.
I feel sorry for Antonio though, he's been improving since the row over replacing him with Wurz.

tomcosgrave

Poor Pizzonia. He's been completely screwed over by Jaguar. I know he hadn't been performing well, but as a rookie, with very little in the way of support from a team that has had all its problems under the public spotlight, what can you expect? Maybe if he'd started racing at Minardi he'd have had time to learn his trade as an F1 racer away from the public eye.

I hope he can salvage his career (not to mention his confidence) as a racing driver (as opposed to a test driver)- he's really a very fast driver, and to compare him with the likes of Alex Yoong would be a terrible insult to him.

Kiesa (He's Danish) has been touted for his speed and he won the Monaco round of the F3000 series at Monaco when the leader started celebrating too early.

celticfc

Originally posted by tomcosgrave
I hope he can salvage his career (not to mention his confidence) as a racing driver (as opposed to a test driver)- he's really a very fast driver, and to compare him with the likes of Alex Yoong would be a terrible insult to him.

I wasn't comparing Pizzonia to Yoong

Originally posted by tomcosgrave
Kiesa (He's Danish) has been touted for his speed and he won the Monaco round of the F3000 series at Monaco when the leader started celebrating too early.

Thats right i remember that, a few of weeks ago, what a blunder (imagine if that happened in f1) I enjoyed that race

tomcosgrave

Sorry Dave, I wasn't implying you'd compared Pizzonia to Yoong - should have worded that better - apologies!

aidan_dunne

Originally posted by tomcosgrave
Kiesa (He's Danish) has been touted for his speed and he won the Monaco round of the F3000 series at Monaco when the leader started celebrating too early.

God, I'll never forget that, it was just so damn funny. The guy pulled over to the pit wall to wave at the team and he didn't realise the finish line was still down the road a bit until he noticed the man with the checkered flag further on and saw Kiesa suddenly shoot past him. He floored the throttle, the car slid sideways under the sudden burst of power but it was too late, Kiesa took the win.

To this day I can just imagine the conversation on the radio. "Thanks guys, this was a great car you gave me today. This win's for yo......" NEEEOOOWWW ".....who the f**k is that?"

Kalina

That driver must have felt like the worlds biggest chump... wish I'd seen it!!

Robbo

Originally posted by Kalina
That driver must have felt like the worlds biggest chump... wish I'd seen it!!

There was the time that Nigel Mansell was leading the Canadian GP by miles. On the last lap, he slowed right down to wave to the fans. Naturally, the engine stalled at the hairpin, leaving Nelson Piquet to take the flag...

Kalina

Wilson is on a points bonus pay deal, £25,000 if he scores a point but no wages otherwise, according to F1Racing.net. Plus he only has a contract til end of this season so it's up to him to perform well.

Robbo

Well, it's a step up from the zilch Minardi was paying him. At Minardi, he was working part time as a driving instructor in one of those performance driving schools.

That Jag is well capable of getting a few points when pedaled correctly.

Kalina

25k must seems like a fortune to Wilson after his Minardi days. He should manage 2 or 3 points finishes by the end of the season. Webber might give him a hard time though, he might be afraid of being shown up. He's quoted as saying that "he enjoyed blowing the 22-year-old's doors off every time they hit the circuit" about Pizzonia and that they didn't get along. How will he react to Wilson who is more than capable of giving him a run for his money??

Töpher

i think he'll have more respect for wilson, afterall wilson beat to him the f3000 title if i am remembering correctly (read article on it few days ago), so he knows wilson is a great driver.