Antonio Pizzonia
Another of the endless stream of Brazilians heading to Europe chasing their own
Formula 1 dream, Antonio Pizzonia has, thus far, failed to claim a full-time race seat, despite some impressive testing performances for the Williams team.
Like most of his countrymen, Pizzonia started racing karts at a young age, and despite living in the remote Manaus region of the Amazon he was soon accumulating local and regional titles. At the age of 15 – five years after first starting out – he had clinched the Brazilian national title and was being hailed as a possible successor to greats such as Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna.
Determined to build on the momentum of his kart career, Pizzonia then left Brazil to contest the 1996 US-based Barber Dodge series, where he finished second overall in his debut season. That result convinced those around Pizzonia that he had the talent to try and chase a career in motorsport, and'Jungle Boy', as he was affectionately nicknamed because of his background, moved to Britain to race in Formula Vauxhall Junior.
Despite not knowing any of the circuits and coming up against a crop of talented youngsters that included Briton Richard Lyons, Pizzonia finished second overall in 1997, before going on to prove his class by running out champion the following year.
That success provided the platform for a move into Formula Renault, where he joined the crack Manor Motorsport squad and eased to the British title in his first season of slicks-and-wings in Europe. He also finished as runner-up in the European series and, with Renault also providing motive power to the Williams F1 team, Pizzonia was rewarded with his first test drive in a grand prix car.
He remained with Manor the following season, but took the next step up the ladder to join the competitive British Formula Three series. Again, talent won out and the Brazilian clinched the title at his first attempt, beating the likes of Narain Karthikeyan, Takuma Sato, Tomas Scheckter and Nicolas Kiesa along the way.
F1 teams showed an interest, with Benetton offering the Brazilian a test, but it was Williams who decided to take the plunge and offer Pizzonia a contract. The deal was for testing initially, but also guaranteed him support in F3000, where he ran with the Brazilian-backed Petrobras Junior Team. In a competitive field, and with cars that weren't always up to the mark, Pizzonia salvaged one victory – at Hockenheim – en route to sixth in the final standings. The following year was a little better. Remaining with
Petrobras, he finished one place higher in the standings, but still without a trip
to the top step of the podium.
Nevertheless, his performances in the grand prix feeder series continued to attract attention and, at the end of a year that had continued to show his pace in F1 testing, Jaguar Racing offered him a full race contract for 2003. Reluctantly released by Williams, Pizzonia was signed up to partner rising star Mark Webber, but the partnership both with team and team-mate – never really gelled, and the Brazilian found himself made something of a scapegoat for poor performances. Despite posting his best performance – if not result – of the year at Silverstone, he found himself replaced by Justin Wilson for the final six races, and eventually returned to Williams, where his testing abilities still remained in high regard.
The move back to Grove was finally rewarded midway through 2004, when Ralf
Schumacher crashed at the USGP and suffered serious back injuries. Although fellow test driver Marc Gene was given first crack at replacing the German, Pizzonia was drafted in two races later in the hope that he could produce better results. Three seventh places were punctuated by a tearful retirement at Spa when a podium looked possible, leaving the Brazilian with six points to show for his efforts before Schumacher returned to action.
With both the Schumacher and team-mate Juan Montoya leaving at the end of the season, Pizzonia appeared a shoe-in for one of the two race seats. One seat was taken up by Mark Webber and there was speculation that the Australian had attempted to veto Pizzonia's elevation from test driver based on their previously turbulent relationship. In the end, Williams left their decision until the very last minute, awarding the second seat to Germany's Nick Heidfeld after he and Pizzonia had gone head-to-head in winter testing.
Pizzonia remained loyal to his F1 employer and signed up for another year of testing and reserve duties. He was however given another opportunity to show his race craft when Nick Heidfeld was unavailable following a testing accident. His first race (at Monza) yielded a couple of points, but when GP2 champion Nico Rosberg and experienced tester Alex Wurz were both snapped up for 2006. Antonio found himself surplus to requirements. The Brazilian was thus forced to seek employment outside Formula 1, and he targeted the US-based Champ Car series to get his career back on track. He managed to make some appearances for the Rocketsports Team, but no noteworthy results were forthcoming.
For 2007 Pizzonia has decided that the best way to get back into Formula 1 is by way of the GP2 feeder series. Signing with FMS.
