Pizzonia Ponders Future After Williams Blow

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia is considering his next career move after the disappointment of losing out on a Formula One drive with Williams on Monday.

Although team boss Frank Williams said the 24-year-old remained an important member of the BMW-powered team, Pizzonia suggested to reporters that a move to the U.S. based CART championship could be an option.

There are also still a handful of Formula One race positions still to be decided -- at Red Bull, Jordan and Minardi -- but the Brazilian is unlikely to consider or be considered for any of them.

He said he needed time to reflect after Germany's Nick Heidfeld was chosen over him as Australian Mark Webber's teammate before the launch of the new FW27 car in Valencia.

"I think it's not the right time to make a decision at the moment," he said.

"But the idea is to be in Formula One, testing or racing. So I really need a couple of days to think about it and make a decision for my career.

"I think at the moment I want to stay at Williams," he added. "As Frank said to me this morning, I think my career is only at the beginning with the team."

Short Nose

Pizzonia has now had two good chances of making his reputation in Formula One and on each occasion the opportunity has slipped through his fingers.

In 2003 he was signed up by Jaguar, alongside Webber, but ditched after 11 races without a point.

Last year he also raced four times for Williams as a stand-in for injured Ralf Schumacher and was the frontrunner to replace the German permanently until BMW persuaded their partners to consider Heidfeld.

Heidfeld's speed and greater experience swung the decision, although technical director Sam Michael said it had been a "massively close call" made at the last moment.

"What we've seen come out of Antonio has been very impressive," said Michael. "His game is really up there."

"Antonio Pizzonia was beaten by a very, very short nose, if you like," added Williams. "We very much see Antonio as our reserve driver and test driver. He's very important to us."

The Williams decision was reminiscent of one five years ago between Briton Jenson Button and Brazilian Bruno Junqueira, who was also told minutes before the launch of the team's new car that he had not got the drive.

Junqueira subsequently moved to CART while the vacancy filled on Monday only opened up after Button's planned move from BAR fell through.