Pantano to miss Canada?

Giorgio Pantano was a no-show in Friday's free practice for this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, prompting the Formula One rumour mill to suggest that he could sit out the race as well.

Although initial speculation reckoned that the Italian was simply waiting for a technical fault to be fixed on his EJ14, it quickly became apparent that talks were going on behind the scenes to secure his immediate future with the team.

Pantano was nowhere to be seen during the second half of the session, with insiders claiming that he had left the circuit to deal with a 'personal matter', but other sources insisted that his services had been suspended while his management company discussed the next stage of payments to the team.

"A personal matter has arisen which demanded Giorgio's attention away from the circuit today so, unfortunately, he has not been able to take part in free practice," team boss Eddie Jordan 'confirmed' in the team's post-practice statement, "The team is supporting him in every way it can and we hope that he will back as soon as possible."

Reserve driver Timo Glock did join race regular Nick Heidfeld in the 24-car field for the two one-hour practice sessions, getting to within 0.016secs of his fellow German, and is the logical stand-in for Pantano should the Italian not return.

"I needed the first ten laps to find the right rhythm, and there was a lot of work on the car between sessions on the engine and gearbox, which delayed our start in the afternoon a little, but it was not too much of a problem," Glock said if his day, "I had a good long run for the tyres but, at the end, every time I did a fast lap, I was caught up in traffic, so I think I probably could have been a bit faster on my lap time. Overall, though, it was a good practice day."

Both Pantano and Heidfeld's position in the cash-strapped team has been the source of much speculation, but appeared to have been safeguarded when Jos Verstappen turned down the opportunity to test the EJ14 immediately after the European GP.