Antônio Pizzonia

Antônio Pizzonia
Superleague Formula
Nationality	Template:Country flagicon Brazilian
Years active	2008
Team(s)	Corinthians
Starts	10
Wins	0
Poles	0
Wins	0
Fastest laps	1
Best finish	9th in 2008
Championship titles
Awards

Template:F1 driver Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior (born September 11, 1980 in Manaus) 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 city in the northern part of Brazil and capital of Amazonas State.

Racing career

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 5 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 sixth in the championship.

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 a Jaguar 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 readily 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 (but was classified as a finisher in) the Chinese Grand Prix after a puncture. Having been replaced by Nico Rosberg for 2006, Pizzonia's Formula One career was over.

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.<ref>Template:Citation/core{{#if:|}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#if: Entrevista: Pizzonia fala de sua vinda para a Stock Car

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Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	DC	Points
2001	Petrobras Junior Team	INT 9	IMO 4	CAT 6	A1R 4	MON Ret	NUR 6	MAG 10	SIL 3	HOC 1	HUN Ret	SPA 8	MNZ Ret	6th	22
2002	Petrobras Junior Team	INT 4	IMO 4	CAT 10	A1R 7	MON 4	NUR 3	SIL 5	MAG 4	HOC Ret	HUN Ret	SPA Ret	MNZ DSQ	8th	18

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	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				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		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	22nd	2

American Open Wheel Racing

Complete Champ Car results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)

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

IndyCar

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2008	Rocketsports	HMS DNP	STP DNP	MOT1 DNP	LBH1 16	KAN DNP	IND DNP	MIL DNP	TXS DNP	IOW DNP	RIR DNP	WGL DNP	NSH DNP	MDO DNP	EDM DNP	KTY DNP	SNM DNP	DET DNP	CHI DNP	SRF SRF2	-	0

¹ Run on the same day
² Non-points race

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	DC	Points
2007	FMS International	BHR FEA 16	BHR SPR Ret	ESP FEA Ret	ESP SPR 8	MON FEA 8	FRA FEA	FRA SPR	GBR FEA	GBR SPR	EUR FEA	EUR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	TUR FEA	TUR SPR	ITA FEA	ITA SPR	BEL FEA	BEL SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	27th	1

Superleague Formula

2008-2009

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Operator	1		2		3		4		5		6		Position	Points
2008	SC Corinthians	EuroInternational	DON		NÜR		ZOL		EST		VAL		JER		9th	264
					7	10	10	18	4	4	6	16	12	2
2009		Alan Docking Racing	MAG		ZOL		DON		EST		MOZ		JAR		8th	264
			4	9	17	12	3	8	3	5	10	9	14	18

2009 Super Final Results

• Super Final results in 2009 did not count for points towards the main championship.

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6
2009	SC Corinthians Alan Docking Racing	MAG 3	ZOL N/A	DON 4	EST 5	MOZ N/A	JAR DNQ

Brazilian competitions

Stock Car Brasil

Year	#	Team	Car	T	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Pts.
2008	70	K-Med Racing	Peugeot 307	G	SAO 15	BSB Ret	CTB DSQ	SCZ Ret	CGD 14	SAO 24	RIO 16	LON Ret	CTB DNP¹	BSB 18	TAR DNP	SAO 11	31st	8
2009	1	Amir Nasr Racing	Peugeot 307	G	SAO 3	CTB 4	BSB Ret	SCZ 4	SAO 9	SAL 20	RIO DNP	CGD DNP	CTB DNP	BSB DNP	TAR DNP	SAO DNP	16th	51
2010	1	Hot Car Competições	Chevrolet Astra	G	SAO 16	CTB 28	VEL NL	RIO	RBP	SAL	SAO	CGD	LON	SCS	BSB	CTB	28th*	0*

* Season still in progress

See also

• News of Antônio Pizzonia (Article)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Antônio Pizzonia

• @AntonioPizzonia on Twitter
• AntonioPizzonia on YouTube

Preceded by: Laurent Aïello

Autosport National Racing Driver of the Year 2000

Succeeded by: Takuma Sato

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