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Shadow
Hi There,

I see on the TV today (Globo,BR) that Ricardo Zonta had been fired! And on the next race (Spa) Olivier Panis will drive for BAR!

I am spendig the last hour trying to search on the net some notice about this. But without any success! Anybody had information about it? Is this true? If yes maybe Wurz is the next one, and now Team managers will start to fire theirs drivers in the midle of the season. frown.gif

On the other hand I had listen that Bruno Junqueira is about to sign with Chip-Ganassi to replace Montoya (he had an offer from Minardi too, but I in his place go to CART). Someone about this ?
mach4
Here it is (it's in portuguese though):

http://www.uol.com.br/esporte/f1/ult62u556.shl

BAR contrata o piloto francês Olivier Panis
11h22 - 11/08/2000
Das agências internacionais
Em Budapeste (Hungria)

A equipe BAR anunciou, nesta sexta-feira, a contratação do piloto francês Olivier Panis. Segundo a equipe, Panis assinou contrato por dois anos e tem até possibilidades de estrear na próxima etapa da temporada, em Spa, na Bélgica.

Com isso, o brasileiro Ricardo Zonta, até agora o segundo piloto da BAR, fica sem equipe para o ano que vem. O canadense Jacques Villeneuve, que renovou por mais três anos, será o primeiro piloto da BAR em 2001.

Panis, 33, já disputou seis temporadas inteiras na Fórmula 1. Ele estreou na categoria em 94, na equipe Ligier. Só saiu de lá ano passado, quando foi contratado como piloto de testes da McLaren.

Em 91 GPs, ele conquistou uma vitória: o Grande Prêmio de Mônaco, em 96.



http://www.uol.com.br/esporte/f1/ult62u557.shl

GP da Hungria pode ser a última prova de Ricardo Zonta
11h32 - 11/08/2000
Da Redação
Em São Paulo

O GP da Hungria pode marcar a despedida de Ricardo Zonta da Fórmula 1. Com a contratação de Panis, o brasileiro pode nem disputar as próximas etapas do Mundial, segundo a própria equipe.

Além dos resultados ruins nesta temporada, a "demissão" de Zonta teve forte influência do piloto canadense Jacques Villeneuve, o primeiro piloto da equipe.

A gota d'água aconteceu no GP da Alemanha, há duas semanas. Zonta, em sexto lugar, atingiu Villeneuve, que estava em quinto.

O canadense rodou e teve que abandonar a prova. Voltas depois, o brasileiro, que chegou a ficar em quarto lugar, não manteve o carro na pista molhada e também saiu da prova.

Zonta, que faz sua segunda temporada na F-1, recebeu severas críticas de Villeneuve e do chefe da equipe, Craig Pollock. O piloto canadense chegou até a dizer que havia perdido o respeito pelo brasileiro.

"Ele tirou dois pontos de mim e um dele, além de três para a equipe", comentou Villeneuve.

O brasileiro tem um ponto neste ano, conquistado na Austrália, na abertura da temporada. Já Villeneuve tem 11 pontos.

Durante a temporada, uma série de acidentes e quebra do carro já davam indícios de que a permanência do brasileiro na equipe para a próxima temporada seria muito difícil.



http://www.uol.com.br/esporte/f1/ult62u559.shl

Ricardo Zonta diz que não quer ficar mais na BAR em 2001
15h03 - 11/08/2000
Da Redação
Em São Paulo

O brasileiro Ricardo Zonta deve estar realmente encerrando o seu ciclo na equipe da BAR. O piloto afirmou que não tem mais interesse em ficar na escuderia, que já anunciou a contratação do francês Olivier Panis.

A BAR pode colocar Panis já na próxima etapa da Fórmula 1, o GP da Bélgica, que acontecerá daqui a duas semanas. O francês foi contratado por dois anos pela escuderia inglesa.

"O clima na equipe ficou ruim e, para ser sincero, não tenho mais vontade de estar aqui no ano que vem. O Jacques (Villeneuve) se comporta como dono da BAR", disse Zonta.

O brasileiro criticou o seu companheiro de equipe, que acusou Zonta pela batida entre os dois no GP da Alemanha. "Acho que ele não deveria ter feito estes comentários. Nós dois erramos, porque ele também viu que eu iria ultrapassá-lo", disse.

Agora, o piloto quer conseguir um bom resultado no GP da Hungria para conseguir um lugar em alguma equipe da Fórmula 1. "É importante ter performance, principalmente porque estamos conversando com algumas equipes para 2001. A partir disso, vamos analisar o que seria melhor: ser pilotos de testes ou correr por outra equipe", disse.

Mach4


JayWay
I didn't expect this so soon, but in the long run I think it was for the best. Panis belongs in the seat.


Will Zonta now take Panis' place on the McLaren testing team?
JayWay
Wait, Zonta can't be fired now, the race weekend has already started. And I find it highly unlikely that BAR would fire a driver halfway through a race weekend. I'm starting to question this report.
Ricardo F1
Sounds very odd to me. Apart from anything else Zonta hasn't been that bad anyway, would they really gain anything from having Panis come into a new team and a new car so late in the day?
mach4
The report says Olivier Panis has been hired by BAR for 2 years and he will already be racing for them on the next GP at Spa.

It also says Zonta thinks it is very important to perform well at Hungary because he is still analyzing what is best for him next year: to be a test driver or to race for another team.

Mach4
RedFever
if it is true that Panis will be racing for BAR for 2 years, it is unfoar to Zonta, but good for the team if Olivier races already starting in Spa. In fact, he will be able to get used to the car in the next 2 months and start giving his feedback to the team. APparently he is a very good developer (hence his job at McLaren) and his feedback would be extremely precious in the development of next year's car. Also, he knows a few tricks from the Mc Boys that might turn out to be useful
Todd
This is good for Formula 1 as a whole. BAR will be a more competitive with a talented testing and racing driver. What a strange way for them to get one. I'm no Honda fan, so I'm sorry to see that they've picked up their first fast driver, not to mention one that can develop a car. Still, this is a step towards a real challenge for McLaren and Ferrari.
Ross Stonefeld
A truly professional driver will not share the secrets of one team with another. This is the exact reason why Alan Mcnisch has been a factory driver for Porsche, Toyota Team Europe, Audi, and now the Toyota F1 team.

Ross Stonefeld
Aztec Group Motorsport
Ricardo F1
"so I'm sorry to see that they've picked up their first fast driver," - uh, what about that World Champion bloke Villeneuve they have?
Pacific
Todd's just trying to get to the Villeneuve fans.

If this is true, congrats BAR at following my advice, among others. But I think I may have been the most vocal for Panis going to BAR. However, I will say I am surprised to hear Zonta is getting replaced now. I hope Zonta starts testing for McLaren and can put in some good times and consistently keep up with DC and Mika. If he does, somebody will jump for Zonta. Ricardo Zonta has some speed, no doubt about it. He'd fit in at Minardi to a degree, but Telefonica has Gene, who's good, and PSN has Mazzacane and PSN may buy out Minardi.

Good luck to Olivier Panis and especially to Zonta. Ricardo didn't really deserve this, but BAR knows they must keep up with Jordan.
Andy
Pacific, "ditto" 100%. Ricardo did not deserve this but I do think he will be sticking around F1 and needs a bit more 'fine tuning' which he can get as a test driver, what better place than McLaren??!

Slicks
Good luck to Zonta - I suspect he will not get another ride in F1, but may be a catch for some CART team. Anyway, it will be great for JV to have someone push him a little harder.
arcwulf7
If that's true, i think its a lousy decision. Panis has proved he's a capable test driver, and mediocre racer. Zonta has been slagged by just about everybody who needs a scapegoat to blame something on. He has some real potential, he's been on pace with Villeneuve in qualifying or on raceday for the last couple of races. I knew he was gone from BAR after Villeneuve started mouthing off about losing 'respect' for him, but i'm sorry he wasn't given a run to the end of season to show what he could do. Villeneuve really does talk too much, and he's got a nasty, self centred side to him.
Diffuser
Frenchman Olivier Panis has signed a two-year deal to partner Jacques Villeneuve at British American Racing next season.
Panis, who returns to Grand Prix racing after a one-year stint as McLaren's official test-driver, completes a competitive line-up at the Brackley-based team, as it tries to move away from its disastrous debut season last year.

The deal was signed earlier this week, but McLaren boss Ron Dennis vetoed BAR's request to give current driver Ricardo Zonta's seat to Panis for this weekend's race in Hungary.

Dennis made it clear to the team that he wanted Panis to continue his testing duties for McLaren for the next six weeks, but it's thought that the Frenchman will get the call-up to race for BAR at the last two rounds of the season in Japan and Malaysia. There are no tests scheduled around those two races.

Ross Stonefeld
Zonta allready was a Mclaren test driver, in case you were unaware.

Ross Stonefeld
Aztec Group Motorsport
JayWay
One thing this will do, is show us where the BAR really is, if JV is driving to it's limits, or if Zonta was just underpreforming.
Indian Chief
JV wants Zonta out just when RZ seems to be getting more competitive. In the last 3 races, RZ has outqualified JV once and been right behind JV twice. Not bad for an "imbecile"...;)
JayWay
Only when RZ outqualifed JV was it on merit, Hockenheim was toss up and JV was had set the fastest sector time when he blew it and spun, and Hungary was a farce due to the problems with the car. Just like you can't say Button outqualfied Ralf when the Williams had problems at Austria because you know Ralf wasn't able to get the car up to standards to the point where he could show his true potential.
Nathan
I agree with Indian Cheif. Zonta has been pushing JV. Plus if Zonta is as bad, or slow as people say, how is it he was close enough in Germany to JV to spin him out? Zonta is a good driver in need of fine tuning. I say give him a test position at McLaren, or give him a ride at Sauber, Arrows wherever. If you ask me, lately I dont think he is much slower than JV considering how much more support JV gets (I dont care what you say about the issue JayWay, its true smile.gif ), and all the media pressure on about his job.
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