Antônio Pizzonia

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Antônio Pizzonia
Nationality	Brazilian
Date of Birth	September 11, 1980 (1980-09-11) (age 27)
Place of Birth	Manaus, Amazonas
2008 GP2 Series
Debut season	2007
Current team	FMS International
Car No.	9
Starts	5
Wins	0
Poles	0

Formula One World Championship career
Active years	2003 - 2005
Teams	Jaguar, Williams
Races	20
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Career points	8
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	2003 Australian Grand Prix
Last race	2005 Chinese Grand Prix

Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior (born Manaus, Brazil, September 11, 1980) is a Brazilian racing driver who has raced in Formula One and the Champ Car World Series.

He is nicknamed "Jungle Boy", a reference to his native Amazonas. He is currently a resident of Manaus, a modern big city of Brazil.

Contents 1 Racing career 1.1 Pre-Formula One 1.2 Formula One 1.3 Post-Formula One 2 Racing record 2.1 Complete Formula One results 2.2 American Open Wheel Racing 2.2.1 Complete Champ Car results 2.3 GP2 Series record 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Racing career

[edit] Pre-Formula One

From 1991 to 1996 he competed in various karting series. In 1997 he moved to Britain and competed in Formula Vauxhall Junior; Pizzonia placed second, and won the Winter Festival. In 1998, in addition to taking the Championship in F-Vauxhall Junior, he won the Formula Renault Winter Festival. His 1999 season was even more successful, winning the British F-Renault series and finishing second in its European counterpart. In 2000, Pizzonia took 3 wins on his way to winning the British Formula Three Championship.

For 2001, Pizzonia switched to the Formula 3000 series, winning one race and finishing second in the championship.

[edit] Formula One

In 2002, Pizzonia was hired as test driver for Williams, but also continued in F3000, placing 8th. After impressive testing performances, he was signed by the Jaguar team to partner Mark Webber for 2003. However, following a string of poor results, he was dropped midway through the season and replaced by Minardi's Justin Wilson.

Whilst driving for Jaguar F1 he was driving Steve Sutcliffe, a journalist for Autocar magazine, around the Jerez racing circuit in an S-Type R when he lost control into the first corner, rolling the car and hitting the tyre barrier. Apparently he accidentally braked at the braking point he had been using in his F1 car and just went off. The video is readilly available on Youtube.

In 2004 he returned to Williams as test driver. Before the German Grand Prix, it was announced that Pizzonia would take over from Marc Gené, who had been filling in for the injured Ralf Schumacher. At the German Grand Prix, he finished 7th to take his first 2 career points; he repeated the feat at the Hungarian Grand Prix. In Belgium, he briefly led an F1 race for the first time, but failed to finish the race due to mechanical problems. He claimed a further 2 points in Italy (during which he achieved the fastest ever recorded top speed in a F1 race, 369.9 km/h), but with the announcement of Ralf Schumacher's return for the Chinese Grand Prix, Pizzonia's racing was over for the year.

Prior to the 2005 season, Pizzonia was in a virtual shoot-out with German Nick Heidfeld for the second race seat at Williams alongside Webber. Despite Pizzonia's experience with the team and financial support from Petrobras, Heidfeld was given the seat.

Pizzonia was still employed at Williams as a test driver, and when Heidfeld complained of headaches after being concussed in a crash during the Friday Practice Session at Monza, Pizzonia gained the chance to race. Having not entered an F1 race since the 2004 Italian Grand Prix, the Brazilian qualified 16th, coming through the field to emulate his 2004 race result — picking up 7th place and 2 points. He then raced in the Belgian Grand Prix. where he incurred a fine for taking out 2nd placed Juan Pablo Montoya just a few laps from the end. Pizzonia also took the drive in the Brazilian Grand Prix, but his race was over before the first corner after taking out his own teammate Mark Webber resulting from a collision with David Coulthard.

Despite some speculation that GP2 champion Nico Rosberg would be given an opportunity in the last two races of the season, Pizzonia completed the season for Williams. He retired from the Japanese Grand Prix early after spinning off, and retired from the Chinese Grand Prix after a puncture. Having been replaced by Nico Rosberg for 2006, Pizzonia's Formula One career seems to be over.

[edit] Post-Formula One

In 2006, he drove for Paul Gentilozzi's Rocketsports team in the Champ Car World Series' Long Beach Grand Prix and returned to the team towards the end of the season for races where Tõnis Kasemets did not have sponsorship to race.

In 2007, Pizzonia was racing for Fisichella Motor Sport in the GP2 series.^[1] In May, he was dropped in favour of Adam Carroll after only scoring 1 point in 5 races. After that, he returned to Brazil and entered into competition in Stock Car Brasil, a Brazilian national championship, from July.^[2]

[edit] Racing record

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Team	WDC	Points
2003	Jaguar Racing F1 Team	Jaguar R4	Cosworth V10	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	BRA Ret	SMR 14	ESP Ret	AUT 9	MON Ret	CAN 10	EUR 10	FRA 10	GBR Ret	GER	HUN	ITA	USA	JPN				Jaguar	21st	0
2004	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW26	BMW P84 3.0 V10	AUS	MAL	BHR	SMR	ESP	MON	EUR	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER 7	HUN 7	BEL Ret	ITA 7	CHN	JPN	BRA		Williams	15th	6
2005	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW27	BMW P84/5 3.0 V10	AUS	MAL	BHR	SMR	ESP	MON	EUR	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA 7	BEL 15	BRA Ret	JPN Ret	CHN 13	Williams	22nd	2

[edit] American Open Wheel Racing

[edit] Complete Champ Car results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Yr	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Team	Rank	Points
2006	Rocketsports	LBH 10	HOU DNP	MTY DNP	MIL DNP	POR DNP	CLE DNP	TOR DNP	EDM DNP	SAN DNP	DEN DNP	MTL 13	ROA DNP	SUR 10	MEX 12	Rocketsports	18th	43

[edit] GP2 Series record

Season	Team Name	No.	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Final Placing
2007	FMS International	09	5	0	0	1	27th

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• News of Antônio Pizzonia (Article)

Sporting positions
Preceded by Aluizio Coelho	British Formula Renault UK series champion 1999	Succeeded by Kimi Räikkönen
Preceded by Marc Hynes	British Formula Three Champion 2000	Succeeded by Takuma Sato