Eddie Irvine and Pedro de la Rosa seem certain to be replaced by Jaguar after the F1 team called a press conference for Monday to discuss their future.
A report in The Sun newspaper states that Minardi racer Mark Webber and BMW-Williams' Brazilian test driver Antonio Pizzonia are to drive for Jaguar next season.
"The team will be making an announcement on Monday. In the meantime, we cannot confirm anything else," said team spokesman Nav Sidhu.
But there seems little doubt that Irvine will not drive for the team next season, despite scoring all their points last season, including third place in the Italian Grand Prix.
It earned him ninth in the drivers' championship and lifted Jaguar to seventh in the constructors' championship.
"There is no bad feeling with Eddie and the team know they have not given him a great car for the past three years, it was just felt that new blood was needed to carry the team on," a source told the Press Association.
"With de la Rosa, it just has not worked out. He hasn't come up to expectations. The team believe that Webber and Pizzonia will complement each other and spur each other on.
"Pizzonia did an astonishing test in Barcelona. He was producing times you would have expected after four days in the car in just one afternoon.
This doesn't really affect my plans for the future - but if I were a team boss, I wouldn't be happy fielding two inexperienced drivers
Eddie Irvine
"He will really shake up the grid next year and take no prisoners. He is an even more aggressive version of Juan Pablo Montoya."
Irvine expressed little surprise when talking to The Sun about Jaguar's decision.
"This doesn't really affect my plans for the future - but if I were a team boss, I wouldn't be happy fielding two inexperienced drivers," he told The Sun.
"With the new qualifying rules, drivers have just one flying lap to gain grid position and the experienced men will have an advantage."
He was informed of the plans by a phone call from team boss Niki Lauda.
Irvine, the oldest driver in Formula One at 36, was out of contract at the end of this season, but De la Rosa had one year left on his contract at Jaguar.
The Irishman has long been expected to be replaced by Webber, and Brazilian Pizzonia put himself in the frame for a drive with an impressive test for the team before the end of the season.
But if Jaguar have dropped De la Rosa, they will have to pay him off. | 
