Now that he has been replaced...

[Fish_Flake]

Now that Jaguar Racing has released him, how long will it be before Antonio Pizzonia is driving one of Dale Coyne's cars?

[gttouring]

ha ha
Pizzonia isn't a bad driver, but in Coyne's?
PPk racing better make asecond car so Max has a partner and they can double test, it can only make that sad team better
and i might add, if all the CosworthXFE engine are the same why is MAX PAPIS so slow? he was always pretty good, or is memory clouded by fondness

[Lee Janotta]

PK Racing didn't get any notes on how to set up the Lola chassis. Nearly all the fast teams ran them last year, and it seems PT was taking notes while at AGR last year.

[Jay]

Pizzonia won't be driving Coyne's cars for two reasons:
a) He has a solid contract with Jaguar
b) He's not a pay driver and actually has talent

If he ever does come to Cart (and I'd welcome him if he did), it won't be with Coyne.

[Omega99]

I believe his contract with Jaguar expires at the end of this season, does it not? There was talk of Wilson going to Jaguar from Minardi before the end of the season, but Pizzonia's contract guaranteed him a spot on the team through to the end of this season...

So in response to the original question, next year at the earliest. And Jay's right, probably not for Coyne... He's not a terrible dirver or anything, a probably still has a shot in F1.

[Jay]

No thanks to Jaguar, I think he's done in F1. But, the qualifier to drive for Coyne is a fat wallet, and I'm not sure Pizzonia has that.

[champcarman]

When was Max Papis so good? He only won a few oval track races and was menace during his last years at Rahal ( I remember him taking team mate Brack out at Mid Ohio?). He is not good enough for top CART ride but he might be OK in the IRL. I think Pizzonia would be good in CART but unless it is a good Team he is better off as an F1 tester.

[Jay]

Agreed, but PK racing also hired Lemarie over Salo...so that says something there. Why don't we just call the team BAR2.

[Liz]

The PPK question is: "Is he a friend of Jacques?" The Coyne question is "Does he have his own money?"

In neither case is the question "Can he actually drive?"

Max is a great sports car driver and he ought to stick to what he does well. Contrary to his belief, CART does not need more chicaynes.

[JR Ewing]

Lemarie at PK is merely a team principal showing some loyalty, and should not be knocked. He was given a very fair chance to shine...

[racer69]

Papis hasn't exactly done much better though.

[429CJ]

Originally posted by Jay
Pizzonia won't be driving Coyne's cars for two reasons:
a) He has a solid contract with Jaguar
b) He's not a pay driver and actually has talent

What talent? Not since F3 has he shown anything.

[oily oaf]

I heard he's off to Nascar where he's taking over from Brett Bodine in the #11 Ford Taurus sponsered by Hooters as some unkind people say he drives like a complete t*t.

[Phoenix1]

Originally posted by 429CJ
What talent? Not since F3 has he shown anything.

Williams testing would be where he showed speed. Hope now he out of a drive for '03 he can give PT a race!!

[corkholio]

Pizzonia won a F3000 race.

Can other non-American super nice guy studs like Mario Haberfeld, Tiago Monteiro, Alex Sperafico, Patrick Lemarie, Joel Camathias, and Alex Yoong say the same thing? Hell even the talented Darren Manning couldn't manage to do so.

[Superunknown]

Originally posted by Liz
The PPK question is: "Is he a friend of Jacques?" The Coyne question is "Does he have his own money?"

In neither case is the question "Can he actually drive?"

Max is a great sports car driver and he ought to stick to what he does well. Contrary to his belief, CART does not need more chicaynes.

*gasp* amazing... BLOODY AMAZING!!! she can admit Lemarie never did anything to ever deserve a CART ride!!!

I don't see any cows flying outside my window right now however, so she may have meant something else and I'm just fooled... ditto on the coyne camathias/gonzales business.

[Snrub]

Lemarie did as well as Herta and Papis. I don't think he deserves to be slagged for the job he did.

[Jordi]

Lemarie did as well as Papis is doing. Herta couldn't do much in one race, but he still scored and did not get in the way.

[camcartfan]

Originally posted by champcarman
When was Max Papis so good? He only won a few oval track races and was menace during his last years at Rahal ( I remember him taking team mate Brack out at Mid Ohio?).

Papis won at Laguna Seca in 2001.

[evo]

He also won at Portland that year.

[Omega99]

He also started 18th and finished 3rd at Long Beach just last year, and started 17 and finished 3rd at Milwaukee. Actually, those were two of the three points paying finishes he had last year in seven starts for the now defunct Sigma Autosport. Maybe that's why. Max rarely qualifies up front, even with Team Rahal. In fact, looking at the info at cart.com, he's only had 2 poles in 109 career starts, plus 11 podiums and 3 wins. His stats aren't that impressive.

Papis is popular because he's exciting to watch. Most of his best results come from charging from the back of the field. Max is a driver who's not afraid to make a pass, which the series needs. He just needs a car that's fast enough, but you can't always blame the car... If he keeps this up they'll probably boot him like Lemarie, and Papis is costing them way more so he'd better shape up quickly.

[JohnSSC]

Papis is particularly exciting to watch if he is your team mate. He took out Brack at least twice costing Brack the championship when they were at Rahal.

He is probably why Rahal runs his second car in IRL - at least they can't hit each anymore!!

[BootsOntheSide]

That Portland win was purely down to pit strategy and dumb luck, I don't give him any credit for that. A lot of his results came about in those ways, but he is exciting to watch. He might be the best bet for developing the team out of PK's 3 drivers so far this year, but I'm not convinced Mario himself at his peak could do much (and I don't mean Mario Haberfeld).

As for Pizzonia, he might look to CART for 2004. His victory in F3000 meant relavely little,as his team was the only one to really master the low downforce settings required for Hockenheim and Spa. For the rest of his 2 years in F3000 he did very little, especially as he was in the team which nearly won the 2000 title.

[corkholio]

Where to start with this one? Baghdad Bob would have been proud.

Papis' first win came at Homestead where he pass some Canadian w*nker by the name of Paul Tracy. His second win at Portland was actually due more to him dominating in the wet with pole and led all but 7 laps of that race, which wasn't exactly pit strategy and dumb luck. His win at Laguna Seca was, however.

I don't know exactly how little Pizza Boy's F3000 win meant, but I do know that Pizzonia went from 6th to 1st in that race while his teammate went backwards. Of course, that still doesn't explain how Mario "Mr. June" Haberfeld couldn't win squat after 4 years with 3 of the best F3000 teams ever, and how Tiago Monteiro could only muster 2 points with the sister team of Pizzonia last year. Just for info's sake Petrobras/DBA actually won the drivers title with Bruno for that matter.

[Liz]

Lemarie did as well as he could (and he did score points) -- but he was hired because he was a friend of Jacques, and the dismissal PR was exactly that -- dismissive. That must be disappointing.

But I have no doubt that anyone who comes to Champ Cars from now on will be branded a Loser the day before he is announced. Unless he's an American Loser, in which case he will be declared the Saviour of CART. But I'd like to see new guys come in and give them a chance to be seen -- because who knows? Look how many people were screamign LOSER when JPM joined TCG, and simply meant "I have never heard of him and he's not American!"