Ricardo Zonta
When British American Racing launched their new challenger at the beginning of 1999 all eyes were quite naturally on Jacques Villeneuve, and Ricardo Zonta's Grand Prix debut in the second car went largely unheralded. The disastrous season that BAR was to endure provided the Brazilian with the toughest of baptisms in the big time. Ricardo was injured in a practice crash at his home track that forced him to miss three races, and then emerged unscathed from a massive off at Eau Rouge during practice for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa later in the year. Through all this, his self-confidence remained unshakeable, for the ambitious Brazilian had been a champion in every major category in which he had competed.
His father was a racer on the local dirt tracks around his native Curitiba and a young Ricardo was soon ‘bitten’ by the racing bug. In 1986 his dad bought him his first kart and the following year his competition career began. By 1991 he was Brazilian champion, and after a season in Formula Chevrolet, Zonta moved up to Formula Three in the Sud-Am series. Six victories in the 1995 season brought him the South American championship and, with it, the opportunity to go to Europe and race in the F3000 series with the Italian Draco Engineering team.
Wins at Mugello and Estoril marked him out as a man to watch and after switching to the crack Super Nova team for 1997, he had the equipment and the talent to take the F3000 title after a tremendous battle with Juan Pablo Montoya. Grand Prix teams had already been alerted to his ability and a highly promising F1 test for Jordan brought a testing contract with McLaren in 1998. Mercedes placed him alongside the experienced Klaus Ludwig in their CLK-GTR to contest the FIA GT championship and the pair duly shared the drivers' crown after five wins in the ten-round series.
That success led to him being invited to partner Villeneuve in BAR's high-profile debut season, but it wasn't until the start of the 2000 campaign that things began to look up for the Brazilian, as he inherited sixth spot in Melbourne after Mika Salo's Sauber was disqualified for a technical infringement. Similar finishes in Italy and the USA followed, to put Zonta 14th overall in the championship standings, although, ultimately, that wasn't enough to keep his seat safe.
Replaced by Olivier Panis in the Brackley line-up, the Brazilian was connected with a couple of lowlier race seats, as well as testing deals with two former employers – Jordan and McLaren. Eschewing the race option and taking the former testing role, Zonta hoped to create a similar impression to that of Panis in 2000 in order to find a way back into racing for 2002.
His time with Jordan didn't go well, however, and, despite twice standing in for Heinz-Harald Frentzen – first when the German was unwell at the Canadian GP and then replacing him for the German GP after the three-times GP winner was fired – Zonta didn't impress, and found himself in the F1 wilderness again.
In an effort to kick-start his reputation, he decided to enter a new phase and started competing in a new championship – the Telefonica World Series by Nissan. The result was impressive, with Zonta winning the series against the likes of rising stars Justin Wilson, Franck Montagny and Bas Leinders. The success again brought him to the attention of Formula One team bosses, but it was the new kid on the block rather than an established outfit that decided to take a punt on his ability. Toyota announced in January 2003 that Zonta would become its official test driver, giving him a lifeline back to F1.
Although not yielding a race seat, the testing role continued in 2004, where the Brazilian was able to get extra running as one of the 'third/reserve' drivers allowed into Friday practice sessions. He did enough during these sessions to impress the team, and, from the Hungarian GP onwards, was drafted in to replace fellow countryman Cristiano da Matta, who had generally failed to impress since converting from Champ Cars.
Despite five race appearances – he missed Japan following the team's early signing of 2005 pilot Jarno Trulli – Zonta failed to finish higher than tenth and, with Ralf Schumacher also being snapped up by Toyota for 2005, again dropped back into a testing and development role. He nearly got a chance to show his racing mettle in a race once more, when he substituted for the injured Schumacher at Indianapolis. Sadly for Zonta, he was obliged to pull in to the pit lane after the parade lap, being one of the fourteen Michelin runners who decided not the race on grounds of safety.
Zonta’s four years at Toyota, that included a year running on Bridgestone tyres, made him an obvious target for Renualt, who lost no time in appointing the experienced and reliable Brazilian as a test driver alongside promising rookie Nelson Piquet Jr.
