Antônio Pizzonia

Antônio Pizzonia
Antônio Pizzonia
	Pizzonia at the 2004 Italian Grand Prix
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior; 11 September 1980 (age 44); Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
Auto GP career
Debut season	2012
Current team	Zele Racing
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	2003–2005
Teams	Jaguar, Williams
Entries	20
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	8
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2003 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	2005 Chinese Grand Prix

Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior (born 11 September 1980) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who has raced in Formula One and the Champ Car World Series. Born in Manaus, he started his car racing career in the Formula Vauxhall Junior series in 1997 and then progressed through various junior formulae, winning the Formula Vauxhall Junior Winter Festival in 1997, the Formula Vauxhall Junior and Formula Renault Winter Festival in 1998, the Formula Renault 2.0 UK in 1999, and the British Formula 3 Championship in 2000.^[1]

For 2001 and 2002, he entered the Formula 3000, with his best championship finish being sixth in 2001. In 2003, he was signed by the Jaguar Formula One team, but following poor results, was released during the season. In 2004, he replaced the injured Ralf Schumacher at Williams in several events, securing his first Formula One points in the process.^[1]

In 2005, he replaced Nick Heidfeld at Williams, but was released from his contract at the end of the season. Since then, he has competed in multiple series, such as the Champ Car World Series, the Superleague Formula, Stock Car Brasil, and the FIA GT1 World Championship.

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 Formula Vauxhall Junior, he won the Formula Renault Winter Festival.

His 1999 season was even more successful, winning the Formula Renault 2.0 UK series and finishing second in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup. In 2000, Pizzonia took five wins on his way to winning the British Formula 3 Championship. For 2001, Pizzonia switched to the Formula 3000 series, winning one race and finishing sixth in the championship.^[2]

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, replacing the axed Pedro de la Rosa^[3] . However, following a string of poor results, he was dropped late in the season and replaced by Minardi's Justin Wilson.

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 a gearbox problem, whilst running in 3rd place. He claimed a further 2 points in Italy (during which he achieved the fastest ever recorded top speed in a F1 race at the time, 369.9 km/h, until Juan Pablo Montoya eclipsed this record the following year), 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.^[2] 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.^[4] He has competed in the series every year since then, and has also raced in Superleague Formula (SC Corinthians) and the FIA GT1 World Championship.

In 2012, Pizzonia made a one-off guest appearance in the Auto GP World Series when the championship visited the Brazilian Curitiba circuit. Driving for the Ombra Racing team, he won both races, immediately slotting himself into ninth position in the championship.

In 2014 and 2015, Pizzonia competed in the Auto GP series, with Zele Racing.^[1]

Pizzonia returned to open-wheel racing in 2023, in the BOSS GP series, with HS Engineering in a Gibson-engined Dallara T12, winning both races overall at the season-opener at Paul Ricard. He has subsequently won every race in his class. He won the Open class title at TT Circuit Assen.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F.Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
1996	Formula Vauxhall Junior Winter Series	?	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1997	Formula Vauxhall Junior	John Village Automotive	16	4	?	?	4	142	2nd
1997	Formula Vauxhall Junior Winter Series	Lewis Motorsport	1	1	0	0	1	0	1st
1998	Formula Vauxhall Junior	Lewis Motorsport	16	8	?	?	8	186	1st
1998	Formula Renault 2.0 UK Winter Series	Manor Motorsport	4	4	?	3	4	120	1st
1999	Eurocup Formula Renault	Manor Motorsport	9	4	?	?	?	196	2nd
1999	Formula Renault 2.0 UK	Manor Motorsport	13	11	12	?	11	402	1st
2000	British Formula Three Championship	Manor Motorsport	14	5	3	5	11	200	1st
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	FIA European Formula 3 Cup		1	0	0	0	0	0	20th
	Formula One	Mild Seven Benetton Playlife	Test Driver
2001	International Formula 3000	Petrobras Junior Team	12	1	1	2	2	22	6th
2002	International Formula 3000	Petrobras Junior Team	12	0	0	0	1	17	8th
2002	Formula One	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Test Driver
2003	Formula One	HSBC Jaguar Racing	12	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2004	Formula One	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	4	0	0	0	0	6	15th
2005	Formula One	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	5	0	0	0	0	2	22nd
2006	Champ Car World Series	Rocketsports Racing	4	0	0	0	0	43	18th
2007	GP2 Series	FMS International	5	0	0	0	0	1	27th
2007	Stock Car Brasil	RS Competições	8	0	0	0	0	1	40th
2008	Superleague Formula	SC Corinthians	10	0	0	1	1	264	9th
	Stock Car Brasil	Cimed Racing	10	0	0	0	0	6	31st
	Champ Car World Series	Rocketsports Racing	1	0	0	1	0	0	NC
2009	Stock Car Brasil	Amir Nasr Racing	6	0	0	0	1	51	15th
2009	Superleague Formula	SC Corinthians	15	0	3	3	3	264	8th
2010	Stock Car Brasil	Hot Car Competições	11	0	0	1	1	31	23rd
2010	GT Brasil	CRT Brasil	14	0	0	1	2	90	16th
2011	Stock Car Brasil	Amir Nasr Racing	2	0	0	1	0	6	26th
	Brasileiro de Marcas	Amir Nasr Racing	2	0	0	0	0	17	28th
	GT Brasil	CRT Brasil	2	0	0	1	0	7	23rd
	Superleague Formula	Team Brazil	5	0	0	1	2	102	8th
2012	Stock Car Brasil	Comprafácil Nascar JF	12	0	0	0	0	83	15th
	Campeonato Brasileiro de GT	Mottin Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	American Le Mans Series - LMP2	Conquest Endurance	1	0	0	0	1	0	NC
	Auto GP World Series	Ombra Racing	4	2	0	0	2	45	9th
2013	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2	Delta-ADR	2	1	1	0	1	25	15th
2013	Rolex Sports Car Series - DP	Michael Shank Racing	5	0	0	0	0	102	22nd
2014	Stock Car Brasil	Prati-Donaduzzi	20	2	0	1	2	158.5	9th
	Auto GP World Series	Zele Racing	2	0	0	1	1	25	14th
	Brasileiro de Marcas	Amir Nasr Racing	1	0	0	1	0	0	NC
2015	Stock Car Brasil	Prati-Donaduzzi	21	0	0	0	0	95	18th
2015	Auto GP World Series	Zele Racing	4	2	1	2	4	79	1st
2016	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2	Manor Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	10	27th
	Brasileiro de Marcas	C2 Team	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	Porsche Endurance Series - Cup	?	1	0	0	0	0	40	37th
2017	Stock Car Brasil	Prati-Donaduzzi	22	0	0	0	1	124	13th
2018	Stock Car Brasil	Prati-Donaduzzi	22	0	0	1	0	44	21st
2021	Porsche Endurance Series	?	1	1	0	0	1	116	7th
2023	BOSS GP - Open Class	HS Engineering	14	14	7	14	14	352	1st
2024	BOSS GP - Open Class	HS Engineering

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	NÜR 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	NÜR 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 13^†	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

^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

American open wheel Racing

(key)

Complete Champ Car results

Yr	Team	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points	Ref
2006	Rocketsports	8	LBH 10	HOU	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN					18th	43	^[5]
2006	Rocketsports	18											MTL 11	ROA	SRF 10	MXC 12	18th	43	^[5]

IndyCar

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points	Ref
2008	Rocketsports	Panoz DP01	9	Cosworth	HMS	STP	MOT¹	LBH¹ 16	KAN	IND	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	SRF²	45th	0	^[6]

¹ Run on same day
² Non-points-paying, exhibition 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	Petrol Ofisi FMS International	BHR FEA 16	BHR SPR Ret	CAT FEA Ret	CAT 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
2008		EuroInternational			7	10	10	18	4	4	6	16	12	2	9th	264
2009		Alan Docking Racing	MAG		ZOL		DON		EST		MOZ		JAR		8th	264
2009		Alan Docking Racing	4	9	17	12	3	8	3	5	10	9	14	18	8th	264

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

2011

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

Year	Team	Operator	1			2			Position	Points
2011	Brazil	Alan Docking Racing	HOL			BEL			8th	102
2011	Brazil	Alan Docking Racing	8	3	2	9	12	X	8th	102

Brazilian competitions

Stock Car Brasil

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	Rank	Pts.
2007	RS Competições	Volkswagen Bora	INT	CTB	CGD	INT	LON 33	SCZ 15	CTB DNQ	BSB Ret	ARG DSQ	TAR Ret	RIO Ret	INT 18											40th	1
2008	K-Med Racing	Peugeot 307	SAO 15	BSB Ret	CTB DSQ	SCZ Ret	CGD 14	SAO 24	RIO 16	LON Ret	CTB	BSB 18	TAR	SAO 11											31st	8
2009	Amir Nasr Racing	Peugeot 307	SAO 3	CTB 4	BSB Ret	SCZ 4	SAO 9	SAL 20	RIO	CGD	CTB	BSB	TAR	SAO											15th	51
2010	Bardahl Hot Car	Chevrolet Vectra	SAO 16	CTB Ret	VEL Ret	RIO Ret	RBP 3	SAL Ret	SAO Ret	CGD 8	LON 14	SCS 18	BSB 12	CTB Ret											23rd	31
2011	Amir Nasr Racing	Peugeot 408	CTB	SAO	RBP Ret	VEL	CGD	RIO																	26th	6
2011	Scuderia 111	Peugeot 408							SAO 10	SAL	SCS	LON	BSB	VEL											26th	6
2012	Comprafacil Nascar JF	Peugeot 408	INT 30	CTB 11	VEL 17	RBP Ret	LON 10	RIO 4	SAL Ret	CGD 26	TAR 18	CUR 7	BRA 25	INT 10											15th	81
2014	Prati-Donaduzzi	Peugeot 408	INT 1 21	SCZ 1 11	SCZ 2 1	BRA 1 Ret	BRA 2 DNS	GOI 1 12	GOI 2 7	GOI 1 6	CAS 1 11	CAS 2 8	CUR 1 12	CUR 2 21	VEL 1 13	VEL 2 10	SCZ 1 7	SCZ 2 4	TAR 1 10	TAR 2 1	SAL 1 6	SAL 2 22	CUR 1 22		9th	158.5
2015	Prati-Donaduzzi	Peugeot 408	GOI 1 25	RBP 1 10	RBP 2 9	VEL 1 24	VEL 2 12	CUR 1 4	CUR 2 11	SCZ 1 NC	SCZ 2 Ret	CUR 1 14	CUR 2 9	GOI 1 17	CAS 1 26	CAS 2 11	MOU 1 16	MOU 2 Ret	CUR 1 18	CUR 2 7	TAR 1 14	TAR 2 13	INT 1 15		18th	97
2016	Voxx Racing	Peugeot 408	CUR 1 1	VEL 1	VEL 2	GOI 1	GOI 2	SCZ 1	SCZ 2	TAR 1	TAR 2	CAS 1	CAS 2	INT 1	LON 1	LON 2	CUR 1	CUR 2	GOI 1	GOI 2	CDC 1	CDC 2	INT 1		NC†	0†
2017	Prati-Donaduzzi	Chevrolet Cruze	GOI 1 Ret	GOI 2 12	VEL 1 14	VEL 2 Ret	SCZ 1 Ret	SCZ 2 2	CAS 1 22	CAS 2 Ret	CUR 1 DSQ	CRI 1 20	CRI 2 15	VCA 1 5	VCA 2 6	LON 1 10	LON 2 4	ARG 1 12	ARG 2 8	TAR 1 5	TAR 2 Ret	GOI 1 Ret	GOI 2 11	INT 1 20	16th	126
2018	Prati-Donaduzzi	Chevrolet Cruze	INT 1 14	CUR 1 23	CUR 2 5	VEL 1 24	VEL 2 Ret	LON 1 15	LON 2 DSQ	SCZ 1 Ret	SCZ 2 11	GOI 1 Ret	MOU 1 Ret	MOU 2 Ret	CAS 1 15	CAS 2 8	VCA 1 Ret	VCA 2 24	TAR 1 13	TAR 2 Ret	GOI 1 Ret	GOI 2 14	INT 1 8		21st	44

^† Ineligible for championship points.

Complete Auto GP 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	Pos	Points
2012	Ombra Racing	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	VAL 1	VAL 2	MAR 1	MAR 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	ALG 1	ALG 2	CUR 1 1	CUR 2 1					9th	45
2012	Zele Racing													SON 1 Ret	SON 2 12†			9th	45
2014	Zele Racing	MAR 1	MAR 2	LEC 1	LEC 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	IMO 1	IMO 2	RBR 1	RBR 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	EST 1 4	EST 2 3	14th	25
2015	Zele Racing	HUN 1 2	HUN 2 1	SIL 1 1	SIL 2 3													1st‡	79‡

^‡ Position when season was cancelled.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Car	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Rank	Points
2013	Delta-ADR	LMP2	Oreca 03	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	SIL 1	SPA Ret	LMS	SÃO	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR		15th	26
2016	Manor	LMP2	Oreca 05	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	SIL	SPA	LMS	NÜR 5	MEX	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR	27th	10

Complete BOSS GP Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Year	Entrant	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	DC	Points
2023	HS Engineering	Dallara T12	Open	HOC 1 1	HOC 2 1	LEC 1 1	LEC 2 1	RBR 1 2	RBR 2 1	MIS 1 1	MIS 2 1	ASS 1 2	ASS 2 1	MNZ 1 1	MNZ 2 1	MUG 1 11	MUG 2 1	1st	352

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Pizzonia (Zele Racing), Von Grünigen (Paolo Coloni Racing) join 2015 Auto GP ranks". Auto GP. Auto GP Organisation. 22 April 2015. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
^ ^a ^b "F1 in the news". 15 December 2006. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
^ [1] Autosport 1 November 2002
^ "Entrevista: Pizzonia fala de sua vinda para a Stock Car" [Interview: Pizzonia talks about his coming to Stock Car] (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
^ "Antônio Pizzonia – 2006 Champ Car World Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
^ "Antonio Pizzonia – 2008 IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.

External links

[:0-1] "Pizzonia (Zele Racing), Von Grünigen (Paolo Coloni Racing) join 2015 Auto GP ranks". Auto GP. Auto GP Organisation. 22 April 2015. Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 22 April 2015.

[:1-2] "F1 in the news". 15 December 2006. Retrieved 11 November 2020.

[De_la_Rosa_-_Pizzonia_Switch_Decided_Last_Week-3] [1] Autosport 1 November 2002

[4] "Entrevista: Pizzonia fala de sua vinda para a Stock Car" [Interview: Pizzonia talks about his coming to Stock Car] (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2007.

[5] "Antônio Pizzonia – 2006 Champ Car World Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 15 August 2023.

[6] "Antonio Pizzonia – 2008 IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.

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