Gaston Mazzacane

Argentina has not been well represented in Formula One since the days of Carlos Reutemann and, given the opportunities he was afforded, Gaston Mazzacane was not about to add anything significant to the country's F1 illustrious history. After taking his first steps in karting, the young Mazzacane proved quite adept at the discipline, winning both regional and national titles in his homeland before finally making the step up to cars in 1992, initially with a Datsun 280ZX 'touring car'.

Again having proved that he was no slouch, Gaston returned to open-wheel competition in the hotly contested South American F3 series. Against expectation for a rookie, he managed to record five race wins and attracted attention from Europe, which he realised was where he needed to make his name in order to progress up the racing ladder.

Despite effectively being a step back down the ladder, Mazzacane appeared initially in the Italian Formula 2000 series, running with proven winner RC Motorsport. Again, he impressed, winning the title at his first attempt, before signing a deal to move up to the national F3 championship with BVM Racing 1995. He had already enjoyed a couple of outings in one of RC's F3 machines in 1994, but the BVM team proved no match with Mazzacane slumping to an unrepresentative 17th in the standings.

Disillusioned at the thought of having to spend another year in F3, and buoyed by a brief taste of F3000 with Autosport Racing in 1994, the Argentine decided to throw his lot in with the higher series for 1996, but the story remained the same. Several low-key appearances – and one DNQ punctuated both the 1996 and '97 campaigns, and a switch of teams to the respected Astromega camp did little to reverse his fortunes, with a grand total of two points to show for his efforts.

Again disillusioned, Mazzacane quit F3000 to concentrate on finding an F1 drive for 1999, and landed the Minardi test role on the back of sponsorship from Argentina. He split the season with a sports prototype campaign in the International Sportscar Racing Series, which at least yielded a return to the top step of the podium.

Despite not setting the world alight in testing, Mazzacane's F1 role morphed into a full race seat the following season, as part-owner Telefonica pressed for a South American driver to partner Marc Gene. A best finish of eighth at an attrition-strewn European GP punctuated a series of lowly results and retirements and, backing or not, Mazzacane was cast off by F1's weakest team… only to resurface at Prost the following year.

Backed by Argentine TV company PSN, Gaston was an attractive proposition for the cash-strapped French team, but lasted just four races and two twelfth place finishes before again being released. Despite professing to have secured a drive with the still-born Phoenix team that was supposed to have been born out of the ashes of Arrows in 2002, and then being linked to rides in both the IRL and FIA F3000 for 2003, Mazzacane appeared to have vanished from the international racing radar until resurfacing at Dale Coyne's Champ Car team in 2004. He contested a competent part-season in place of Tarso Marques before surprisingly stepping down again for the final two races.

Mazaccane reappeared on the international scene at the beginning of 2007 when he took part in the Rolex 24 Hours. Unfortunately the Argentine was involved in the race’s biggest accident after he lost control of his Porsche. Taken to hospital for observation, happily, he was soon released with no lasting injuries.