Rogue Profile of Antonio Pizzonia

Unlike the other 2003 rookies, Antonio Pizzonia had previous Formula One experience,
(with Williams as their 2002 test driver.) "Jungle boy" had a reputation
as a fast driver and having seen his teammate Mark Webber ruin his lap in Friday
pre-qualifying by missing the braking point in the first turn his Brazilian heart
must have been pounding.

The first objective of any driver is to beat his teammate and having seen Webber
falter Pizzonia had the change to give him a real kicking. Pizzonia’s enthusiasm
got the better of him, it was his big day and he was up on Webber coming into
the final sector. Finally, in the second to last corner his exuberance bested
him and a too-wide throttle opening in the second to last corner of the lap left
him scrabbling for grip on the grass as precious tenths slipped away.

"It would have been significantly easier today had I known the track.
Because the T-car was set-up for Mark during the two hour testing, my track time
was limited because of the work the team was undertaking on my race car,"
he explained. "From having had a handful of familiarisation laps straight
into qualifying was not easy and combined with my mistakes, the final lap time
could have been much better – no doubt. I suppose it’s far better to make mistakes
at this stage of my F1 career than later and given how positive I feel about the
Jaguar R4′s potential, today’s issues are really down to me – not the machinery!"

In the second turn of the race Michael Schumacher rammed Jarno Trulli as they
fought over second place. The accident at the front of the field had a "concertina
effect" on the chasing pack, so Antonio Pizzonia may have been forgiven for
ramming Montoya’s Williams from behind.

In reality, Pizzonia missed his braking point into turn one and as a result
had run very wide indeed. After regaining some kind of control, he was left with
a clear view into turn two and greeted with some space he attempted something
quite outlandish. In a display of driving that is not usually seen outside a computer
simulation with car damage turned off, "Jungle Boy" torpedoing into
turn two in an attempt to gain as many paces as possible.

Unfortunately "ram braking" did not work too well in real life and
he piled into the back of Montoya, ripping off his front wing and removing Montoya’s
rear wing.

Sensing an imminent road rage attack Pizzonia lifted his hand in the air to
admit responsibility but as he did so, he slowed. As a result, the R4 was clipped
by Verstappen’s Minardi, which lost its rear wing also. All three drivers rushed
to the pits and rejoined out of contention.

On lap twenty-five Montoya crashed out of race when he hit a stream that was running
across the track at turn three. Just as the Colombian was departing the twisted
wreck that formally used to be a Grand Prix car, Antonio Pizzonia found the same
stream.

In what turned out to be an almost perfect "carbon copy" of Montoya’s
accident, Pizzonia aquaplaned off the track under acceleration, striking the barrier
before ricocheting into the abandoned Williams.

As there was no debris on the track itself, the clean up took place under waved
yellow flags.

‘The car hit the stream flowing across the track and after that, I was little
more than a passenger. As I was spinning off, I could see Montoya’s BMW Williams
sitting the space I was about to occupy in the safety barrier and even though
I hit him quite hard, we were both OK. A shame really given how good the car felt
on the wet Michelins and combined with the thorough strategy work the team had
undertaken, it’s disappointing to walk away from my home race with no points.
The good news, however, is that Jaguar Racing is on the championship score sheet
and we have a lot to be pleased about after the performance of the car this weekend."

Antonio Pizzonia started his first "home" Grand Prix in the style that
he had employed at the two previous races. In Friday’s warm-up session he succumbed
to the pressures of a home crowd and wet track when he aquaplaned off in turn
four. The Brazilian rookie lost control of his Jaguar and was helpless to prevent
the R4 smashing in to the barriers.

Although the R4 was damaged (to the extent that Pizzonia had to qualify in
the t-car,) "Jungle Boy" escaped with only wounded pride.

The session had to be red flagged for the clean up.

"It was so dangerous," he said. "You could not go on
to full throttle. The car just aquaplaned on the straight. There was nothing I
could do."