98 replies to this topic

[N3NP]

In July and August there has been Formula One testing, although Antonio Pizzonia
has not tested for Williams in those two months, a little bit strange for he is the official
testdriver at Williams.
A Brazilian website has even stated that in the remaining months of this year Pizzonia will not test anymore for Williams.
The last test Pizzonia did in a Williams was at June 23rd. Given the fact that there is often a half-year clause in a contract, Pizzonia can race/test for another Formula One team in 2006.

My opinion is that Antonio Pizzonia will return to a race-seat in 2006, or that he will be a test driver for another team than Williams, curious for your thoughts.

[swaction]

I personally dont think he's good enough....

nuff said

[Computer Kid]

He should drive in Stck car. He doesn't deserve better.

[BRG]

Originally posted by swaction
I personally dont think he's good enough....

I personally think that you are completely wrong.

Pizzonia is a wasted talent - F1 shouldn't be accomodating the sort of people who regularly turn up behind the wheels of Minardis and Jordans (not to mention some Saubers and Toyotas), it should be using real talents like Pizzonia, Bourdais, etc.

But if he can't find a F1 seat, he ought to go off to some series where he can actually RACE.

[wiligates]

At one point he wanted to have a test with a CART team but Williams wouldn't let him . Hopefully if he can score a drive with anyone they let him go . Don't see the point in holding him to a contract if they don't want to use him . They have using Rosberg quite a bit lately , or so it seems .

[swaction]

Originally posted by BRG
I personally think that you are completely wrong.

Pizzonia is a wasted talent - F1 shouldn't be accomodating the sort of people who regularly turn up behind the wheels of Minardis and Jordans (not to mention some Saubers and Toyotas), it should be using real talents like Pizzonia, Bourdais, etc.

But if he can't find a F1 seat, he ought to go off to some series where he can actually RACE.

Sorry - I ment not good enough for a top line drive.. I would be happy to see him in a RBR Sauber Jordan....

But don't waste a top seat please - how many more shots does this kid need? he has the wrong attitude if you ask me... he's too sulky to survive in F1.

[milliepuppy]

Flipping burgers in the Williams hospitality tent !!!!!

[AndreasF1]

Pizzonia's days in F1 are over. There will be no chance for a top drive. He might have recovered from his Jaguar nightmare by bouncing back as a test driver, but Williams sacking him in favor of Heidfeld destroyed the last bit of repuation he had left...
He has become a liability, nobody in their right mind would take the risk and put him in a car

[VresiBerba]

Originally posted by N3NP
In July and August there has been Formula One testing, although Antonio Pizzonia
has not tested for Williams in those two months, a little bit strange for he is the official
testdriver at Williams.

I don't find that strange at all, given that Williams has seriously cut back on testing this year. Besides, Williams lost their top-tester Gene, to Ferrari, probably for money reasons as well. Perhaps they believe that the regular drivers should do the bulk testing, instead of Pizzonia, who probably will never race for Williams again.

[BRG]

Originally posted by AndreasF1
He has become a liability

Most teams could do with a liability like him on their books. It is barely a year since he was looking a possible GP winner at Spa until the gearbox let him down. A win there would have made him the coming man of F1. How short people's memories are!

[speedmaster]

Pizzonia should drive for the A1 GP series by now. His days at F1 are far from over and his sack out of Williams was dictate by BMW not Frank, we all know the story....;)

[molive]

Originally posted by AndreasF1
....Williams sacking him in favor of Heidfeld destroyed the last bit of repuation he had left...

IIRC it was a tough decision, taken right down to the last testing session, I dont see how it detracts from Pizzonia's reputation at all.

Anyhow, we know that NH is a good driver, with a lot more experience than AP, and, as Speedmaster says, there were a lot of pressure from BMW to have him on the team...

[metz]

The problem is next year.

Button and Webber will drive.
Williams has an option on Heidfeld.
If not as driver then a tester.
The other tester is Rosberg.

Although Antonio did OK this year, there is just no room... :

[ivanalesi]

I think he's going next year to Sauber/BMW as test driver, Sauber have Jani, but he has zero experience and they will need someone for the fridays. Another one is may be Wurz, but they know too well AP, also speed is not very much considered as a factor for test drivers.

[AndreasF1]

Molive, please dont missunderstand me. Of course it was a close call between AP and NH, but at the end of the day he didn't get the job because someone thought that NH was the better option. I think that AP is a hell of a lot better than some people driving around in F1, but his market value hit rock bottom after getting fired by Jag and then loosing out to NH in a shoot-out, after everyone thought that he had the job in the bag. Imagine if he would fail in a top car, everybody would think that whoever put him into that car must have lost his mind, since the signs were on the wall. Nobody is going to take that risk when there are many other great talents on the drivers market. I believe that signing Rosberg would create a lot more buzz for Williams than giving AP another shot, and if Rosberg fails there are plenty of excuses. Nobody could excuse Antonio if he would fail again.

[HBoss]

Why is he replacing Heidfeld today?

[Jhope]

Nick had a testing shunt last week which went unreported. Pizzi is in for the rest of the weekend.

http://www.f1racing....hp?newsID=96900


Jaguar 03 all over again?;)

[angst]

Of course if third cars were allowed for all teams, and as race entries as well, then Pizzonia could conceivably be running a Petrobras liveried Williams-Cosworth in '06. Cosworth have proven reliable, Williams could do with some extra income having lost manufacturer backing and how much more would a fully liveried race drive be worth to Petrobras?

[baddog]

Surely Nicks performance this year ENHANCES antonios also? I was quite shocked that Williams considered him as competition to hiedfeld, but it leaves me assuming that they MUST know him very well, so he must be almost as good as Nick, which leads on to me believing he MUST be good enough for a decent F1 seat.

Shaun

[N3NP]

"I think he's going next year to Sauber/BMW as test driver, Sauber have Jani, but he has zero experience and they will need someone for the fridays ".


I thought Jani was/is Reb-Bull bounded, so in my opinion Sauber does not have Jani for
2006.

[speedmaster]

Originally posted by metz
The problem is next year.

Button and Webber will drive.
Williams has an option on Heidfeld.
If not as driver then a tester.
The other tester is Rosberg.

Although Antonio did OK this year, there is just no room... :

FW assured he has future with the team...lets see if his word holds up....
;)

[Computer Kid]

Originally posted by speedmaster


FW assured he has future with the team...lets see if his word holds up....
;)

As a test driver certainly.

If I remember well, last winter you were sure that PetroPizza will get the race seat so we can't beleive what you say

PetroPizza is a crap driver and he showed it yesterday again. Williams made the right choice last January.

[MikeTekRacing]

Originally posted by Computer Kid

PetroPizza is a crap driver and he showed it yesterday again. Williams made the right choice last January.

he stepped into a car after 3 months, with no friday practice AND was the first driver out in qual....
yet, you conclusion is amazing

[milliepuppy]

..... how close was Rosberg to taking Nicks seat today... is he elligable to drive ????? .... if only he wasnt involed with the GP2 races .... Pizzionias only there by default.


..... tomorrow should be Pizzonia's last outing in an F1 race ... once and for all !!!

[Fortymark]

I hope he beats Mark Webber in the race and I think he can do it.
In qualifying he didn´t do too bad considering the circumstances, remember he was usually 1,0 sec slower than MW at Jaguar.
Hopefully he will have a good clean race so we can analyse his laptimes unlike when
Ant Davidsson jumped into the BAR race seat.

[HBoss]

Any comments?


I'm quite sure 7th place was more than what people expected from him.

[HP]

Originally posted by HBoss
Any comments?

Demote Webber to test driver.

[Wouter]

That must have been some race for Pizzonia. I assume his car was pretty much filled to the brim in qualifying? Great effort, I hope he finds a seat next year.

[Timstr11]

The result shows how overrated Webber is. No top team will go after him.
Webber should be in the Australian Touringcar Championship...you know the door and wheel banging type of racing:rolleyes:

[Dudley]

One reasonable race on an easy circuit (don't forget Gene led this race when he ran it for Williams but was nowhere in others) does not change that he simply isn't good enough.

[se7en_24]

Great race from Pizzonia, who I have lambasted many times in the past. To perform like that after being out of the car for three months was phenomenal. Webber was so quick in practise I expected better, shame for Willaims that it was Heidfeld rather than Webber that had to be subbed.

[metz]

Pizzonia was the driver of the race today...
Heidfeld could not have done much better and Webber didn't.
He was the underdog and finished way ahead of far superiour cars.
Hope he gets a drive next year. I'd like to see more of him just to know if this was a fluke or not.

[fasttrack]

At last, Pizzonia was the man in the right place at the right time. His F1 career was kind of weird, specially the Jag time... but today he proved a few things:

-- That he's mature enough not to throw it out in qual or at the race start, after being for so long out of the car;

-- That he had more than enough pace to maintain the positions that he made up at the start;

-- And finally, that Webber is definitely the most overrated driver in F1, by far & large. Except by his qualifying performances, which are phenomenal... but then Trulli is as good as him at it, and better in race craft.

Note: I'm not a Pizzonia fanboy. Really. I even have some reserves against him as a person, because of some stories that I have heard (namely, his primadonna behavior at an important brazilian karting event last year). To be sincere, I was never any driver's fanboy (not even Mika or Schumacher; perhaps Gilles Villeneuve, for the show; and a little bit of Mansell, Senna and Prost, all of which I admired as drivers for different reasons).

As you can see, I watch F1 since the seventies. Over all these years, there were very few drivers against which I grew uneasy of. Webber is one of them, not because of any particular event, but because of his attitute in and out of the track over the years. I don't want to offend any of his fans, but in my opinion, either as a person and a top driver, there's something about him that doesn't feel right. But that's my personal opinion anyway.

[ivanalesi]

Damn it, Pizzonia made me look very very surprised today! He was right there at the end before the 1st half and started lapping faster and faster and faster, leapfroged some cars, next pit stop window - same story! This car just wasnt supposed to be sitting right behind RS' Toyota. I have never been impressed by him, well a bit in F3000, but never enough!

[LuckyStrike1]

I love it that Nick Heidfeld takes a break, and in comes Pizzonia and puts Webber in place.

Great stuff

[pippin]

Good race by Pizzonia today. Even I was happy for him to show Webber the way

It surely has to make some people sit up and take notice of him. Personally I think he does have the ability but subbing for 1 race is different for sure. There was no pressure on him today, all he had to do was drive, which he did (fantastically well). It could be different if he had the pressure of a full time drive and all the expectations that come with that.

[Paco]

Rather than a coming out party for Pizzaman today, I think it'll put a whole different focus on Webber.

Webber has been shown up by Nick and now Pizzaman. That surely won't go down well with Frank and Co.

I wonder if BMW are now wondering if Nick is the real deal or if Webber was just a bunch of hype.

Paco

[molive]

I cant add anything else...except: :up:

[senninha]

Originally posted by Dudley
One reasonable race on an easy circuit (don't forget Gene led this race when he ran it for Williams but was nowhere in others) does not change that he simply isn't good enough.

Isn´t good enough for?

For me, i´m pleased with the fact he is good enough to beat Webber, the most overated driver i´ve ever seen!

[Cojayar]

Originally posted by Paco
I wonder if BMW are now wondering if Nick is the real deal or if Webber was just a bunch of hype.

The answer is probably in the middle of both.

[sdaouk]

Pizzonia overshadowed Mark Webber today.

[baddog]

Originally posted by Cojayar

The answer is probably in the middle of both.

I reckon they know Nick is good now.. At least as good as Webber and he was mr Desirable.

Shaun

[Riker!]

didnt watch the race, F1 hasnt had much interest this year, but it sounds as if Pizza had a good race, well done to him. Webber on the other hand hmmm

[DamattaSpeed]

the pizza man delivered today...

[scheivlak]

Originally posted by baddog


I reckon they know Nick is good now.. At least as good as Webber and he was mr Desirable.

Shaun

I saw on f1total.com that Frank Williams now even calls Heidfeld "WDC material"

Williams: "Heidfeld kann Weltmeister werden"
04. September 2005 - 11:51 Uhr (Autor kontaktieren)

(F1Total.com/sid) - Trotz der ungewohnten Rennperspektive am Sonntag blickt Nick Heidfeld in eine recht rosige Zukunft. "Nick hat in dieser Saison gezeigt, was er kann. Die Situation ist für ihn viel einfacher geworden als beispielsweise noch vor einem Jahr", so Heidfelds Manager Werner Heinz.

Wohin die Reise für den nur 1,64 m großen Rennfahrer nach der ersten Saison im BMW WilliamsF1 Team im Winter geht, ist weiter ungewiss. Bis zum 11. September kann Teamchef Sir Frank Williams eine Option ziehen, um den Vertrag des Deutschen um ein Jahr zu verlängern. Und vieles spricht dafür, wie der Teamboss sagt: "Nick hat die natürliche Fähigkeit, Weltmeister zu werden."



What's that supposed to mean?

[molive]

Originally posted by scheivlak
What's that supposed to mean?

yes, what?;)

[xflow7]

Originally posted by scheivlak
I saw on f1total.com that Frank Williams now even calls Heidfeld "WDC material"

Williams: "Heidfeld kann Weltmeister werden"
04. September 2005 - 11:51 Uhr (Autor kontaktieren)

(F1Total.com/sid) - Trotz der ungewohnten Rennperspektive am Sonntag blickt Nick Heidfeld in eine recht rosige Zukunft. "Nick hat in dieser Saison gezeigt, was er kann. Die Situation ist für ihn viel einfacher geworden als beispielsweise noch vor einem Jahr", so Heidfelds Manager Werner Heinz.

Wohin die Reise für den nur 1,64 m großen Rennfahrer nach der ersten Saison im BMW WilliamsF1 Team im Winter geht, ist weiter ungewiss. Bis zum 11. September kann Teamchef Sir Frank Williams eine Option ziehen, um den Vertrag des Deutschen um ein Jahr zu verlängern. Und vieles spricht dafür, wie der Teamboss sagt: "Nick hat die natürliche Fähigkeit, Weltmeister zu werden."



What's that supposed to mean?

Well, if SFW is convinced Nick is WDC material then clearly he's planning on giving him the boot.

[sejanus]

oh for goodness sake get over yourselves

If webber had raced the whole race without the first corner incident, AND if pizzonia outraced him then you could use that as proof that he blew webber away.

DC's hit Fisi, and practically stopped - mark had nowhere to go. not really a question of so called racecraft, just someone stopping right in front of him!

As it is, he was gifted this win over webber. I know a lot of you guys hate webber but at least try to look at it with a rational brain. I think pizzonia went well and I'm happy for him but you can't compare him and webber on this race when webber had to pit on lap 1.

[speedmaster]

Originally posted by sejanus
oh for goodness sake get over yourselves

If webber had raced the whole race without the first corner incident, AND if pizzonia outraced him then you could use that as proof that he blew webber away.

DC's hit Fisi, and practically stopped - mark had nowhere to go. not really a question of so called racecraft, just someone stopping right in front of him!

As it is, he was gifted this win over webber. I know a lot of you guys hate webber but at least try to look at it with a rational brain. I think pizzonia went well and I'm happy for him but you can't compare him and webber on this race when webber had to pit on lap 1.

IF IF and IF... give me a break.. the guys is out of a F1 cockpit for 2 months and a half, don't race for a year, got a call on Saturday and deliver from 16th to 7th, no errors, clean race...while Webber, the God, has still to have a race without an incident....

C'mon just give the credit where it is due, the kid did an awesome race considering the conditions

[sejanus]

did you read what I wrote? I said pizzonia went well, I like the guy and I think he should have a race seat, always have.

All I'm saying is you can't say webber was blown into the weeds by him when he had to pit on Lap 1!