Zonta error to seal his fate?

Ricardo Zonta may have hammered the final nail into his own BAR coffin at Hockenheim yesterday, after colliding with team-mate Jacques Villeneuve.

Although the contact was slight, it was enough to spin the Canadian around on the greasy circuit late in the race, effectively ending what could have bee a third successive points finish for the team. With the late-race rain becoming increasingly heavy, Villeneuve was confident of passing those ahead of him as they pitted for wets, and felt that fifth and sixth places were on the cards had Zonta not made a move at the first corner.

The incident led the Canadian to issue a veiled, if still scathing, assessment of his Brazilian partner, which could be enough to seal Zonta's fate after the extension of Villeneuve's contract with the team last week.

''[Our] strategy was beginning to pay off in the second half of the race,'' he explained, ''but there was an incident with my team-mate, and I have to say that I don't have much respect for him as a result. With the strategy we were running, we would have finished in front of Mika Salo, who was fifth. Ricardo's mistake cost us fifth and sixth positions, and the team three points.''

Zonta, already mindful that there is a queue of hopefuls waiting to take his seat next season, apologised for the incident, but claimed that it was a combination of circumstances - and not a lack of ability - which ended the chance of points.

''I'm very sorry for what happened with my team-mate,'' he said, ''because we could both have scored points today. Jacques made a small mistake on the last corner, I picked up a tow from him down the straight and had an opportunity to pass him at the next corner. I went to the inside and braked safely. He gave me space, but not quite enough, and I touched the kerb as a result. It was slippery, the car slid back out a little and my front wheel clipped his rear wheel, making him spin.''

To compound a sad end to the Brazilian's afternoon, he then slid off the track just as the team told him he had been handed a stop-go penalty for his part in the earlier incident.

''The team then radioed me to say that I had been assessed a ten-second penalty, and I guess that I lost concentration for a moment,'' Zonta admitted, ''The car was still on slicks in the wet conditions, I locked the brakes and slid off the track.''

Jenson Button and Olivier Panis head the list of possible replacements for the Brazilian, with the current McLaren test driver expected to get the nod if, as anticipated, Button opts for Benetton.