Pre-Formula One From 1991 to 1996, Pizzonia 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. Pizzonia's 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. However, following a string of poor results, he was dropped late in the season and replaced by
Minardi's
Justin Wilson. during the
2003 British Grand Prix. In
2004, Pizzonia 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 seventh to take his first two career points; he repeated the feat at the
Hungarian Grand Prix. In
Belgium, Pizzonia briefly led an F1 race for the first time, but failed to finish the race due to a gearbox problem, whilst running in third place. He claimed a further two 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 sixteenth, coming through the field to emulate his 2004 race result — picking up seventh place and two points. He then raced in the
Belgian Grand Prix. where he incurred a fine for taking out second 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 and failing to find a seat elsewhere, Pizzonia's Formula One career was over.
Post-Formula One In 2006, Pizzonia 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. In May, he was dropped in favour of
Adam Carroll after only scoring one point in five races. After that, he returned to Brazil and entered into competition in
Stock Car Brasil, a Brazilian national championship, from July. He has competed in the series every year since then, and has also raced in
Superleague Formula (
SC Corinthians) at 2008, 2009 and 2011, 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. during the
Red Bull Ring round. 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. == Personal life ==