Schumacher the gospel, Pizzonia the parable

Against the backdrop of Michael Schumacher's pole-winning debut with the elegant new Ferrari F2003-GA, which has naturally been one of the major talking points in the Barcelona paddock, 22-year-old Antonio Pizzonia has been fighting for his career at Jaguar Racing.

Pizzonia, who hails from the Amazon and has therefore been saddled with the sobriquet "Jungle Boy", has won races and titles in many junior formulae on his rise to the sport's top echelon, and has a level of natural talent far beyond the ken of those who criticise him, either from the side of the track or the comfort of an armchair or a bar stool.

Certainly, he has done things that have not ingratiated him with the management that took over from Niki Lauda, who hired him last October. He crashed a roadgoing Jaguar S Type R at 155mph on the first corner here, with two journalists aboard, when he momentarily forgot that he wasn't in the Formula One Jaguar (clue: the latter doesn't have a roof), and he has crashed his race car several times. On Friday he got done twice for speeding in the pit lane, and collided with one of his mechanics.

But his biggest "crime" thus far has been an inability to match team-mate Mark Webber, one of the stars of the season. A degree of impatience at Jaguar is understandable, and the new regulations and single-lap qualifying have not helped any of the rookies. But the people at Williams, for whom Pizzonia covered 14,000km of testing over the previous two seasons, cannot fathom his current predicament.

Jaguar's managers have made it clear that Pizzonia's future is uncertain beyond this weekend. They are seeking to release Alexander Wurz from his test contract at McLaren, who are resisting. The effect on Pizzonia's confidence can only be imagined, especially as thinly concealed leaks of anti-Pizzonia comment have emanated from factions within the team and then laughably been twisted round as "press speculation". Just as Jaguar is turning the big corner, it seems somebody there is still a disciple of the Alex Ferguson book of man management.

Pizzonia needs help from his team, not a P45. A driver's head is one the most delicate parts of a Formula One package. He needs to be told to forget Webber, stop overdriving, and let his talent flow. Honey wins more bees than vinegar.

"We have seen what this guy can do, and we just cannot understand what the team are doing with him," says an exasperated Gerhard Berger of Williams.

Juan Pablo Montoya has also leapt to his defence. "He's done four races, he hasn't even begun to understand how everything works and they are already trying to sack him. It's sad to say, but it's very typical Jaguar. I saw him in the paddock and said: 'Look, you've got to forget about Webber and concentrate on making your car go quicker. If your car goes quicker, you're going to be fine.'"

Ralf Schumacher believes that Pizzonia just needs more time, but the biggest vote of confidence has come from Williams' technical director Patrick Head, whose own tough character has been known to break drivers. "All I know is that he was instantly fast when he got into the car the first time – two or three laps and he was down to competitive times. At tests he was equally as quick and sometimes a bit quicker than the two drivers we were racing at the time. So I'm surprised to see the problems he's having. I don't believe a race driver changes from being fast to slow suddenly, and I don't believe that his confidence would be shaken that readily. I very much suspect that he'll pull through this one and he'll have a good career in Formula One. I think he deserves it."

In this unedifying parable of modern Formula One times, praise comes no higher than that.

On track, the Circuit de Catalunya has been its usual fickle, treacherous self, the ambient temperature playing havoc with grip levels and creating inconsistency that has kept engineers on their toes all along the pit lane as they continually juggle with set-ups to optimise their cars' performance. In the end, Schumacher and Barrichello slaughtered the opposition, and received a further bonus when Kimi Raikkonen slid off the road and aborted his lap. The Finn will be able to change his McLaren's set-up, tyres and fuel load prior to the race, but he has the handicap of starting from the pit lane.

As Williams struggled, Renault took the second row with local hero Fernando Alonso pipping Jarno Trulli. Jenson Button again looked strong with fifth place for BAR alongside Olivier Panis's Toyota. At only eighth in the line-up, David Coulthard has his work cut out. As for Pizzonia, he had a disappointing run to 16th place, seven-tenths of a second and four places shy of Webber.