Ex-Williams F1 driver ends up in US jail after karate kick assault
An ex-Williams and Jaguar F1 driver was arrested in the United States.
Former F1 driver Antonio Pizzonia was arrested for an alleged assault in the United States last weekend.
The 45-year-old Brazilian was put in a Texas jail at around 6pm on Saturday night, TMZ claimed.
Footage shared on social media captured the moment Pizzonia launched a karate kick at another man.
The incident happened at the Speedsportz Racing Park near Houston where Pizzonia was watching his son Antonio Pizzonia Neto take part in a junior race at the 2026 Superkarts USA Winter Series.
Pizzonia, who has since been released, confirmed on his Instagram account that the report was true.
He claimed to have acted “instinctively” to defend his son, who Pizzonia believed was being “coerced” by the adult he assaulted.
“Everyone I'm okay and I'm back at home,” he wrote. “Indeed there was an incident to which today, I would have reacted in a different way.
“I understood at that moment that my son, a child, was being coerced by an adult and instinctively I defended him.
“Thank you to everyone for your messages of support.”
Pizzonia contested 20 races for Jaguar and Williams in F1 between 2003 and 2005, scoring a total of eight points.
He scored his first career points with a seventh place finish at the 2004 German Grand Prix for Williams, having stepped in for the injured Ralf Schumacher. Pizzonia repeated that result at the next round in Hungary.
Pizzonia finished a career-best seventh on four occasions. He briefly led an F1 race at the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix but a gearbox issue forced him to retire while running third.
Following his F1 stint, Pizzonia competed in several series including the Champ Car World Series, Superleague Formula, Brazilian Stock Cars and the FIA GT1 World Championship.
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