Interview: Jaguar's Pizzonia Ready for Action

Formula One newcomer Antonio Pizzonia has come a long way since his days as a schoolboy racing go-karts around a car park in his Amazonian home city.

But Jaguar's 'Jungle Boy' may still need a map as he prepares for his debut in Melbourne on March 9th.

The Brazilian has never raced at Albert Park and, without a Playstation to practise on, the man from Manaus will have to learn the layout as best he can.

"I'll just go there early and walk around the track and try to learn as quick as I can," he said on a recent visit to the team's factory.

Australian teammate Mark Webber, who will be in the limelight as the big local hope, jokingly suggested an alternative.

"I'm going to get him a Melbourne taxi driver to take him round, show him the track," he said. "They'll probably give him a map -- 'Here's the map mate, find out where it is.'"

Webber should be careful the joke does not rebound on him. Pizzonia, 22, has a history of overcoming geographical difficulties and finding his feet fast enough.

Growing up in the Amazon region, far from Brazil's motor racing centres of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, was only the first of his handicaps.

Like many racers, Pizzonia was introduced to motorsport through karting when a family friend in Sao Paulo sent him a kart as a birthday present. Unlike his peers, he had to wait a year before he was allowed to drive it.

"I was eight but initially my father didn't like the idea so the kart just sat there for a year and my father was saying 'if you do well in school then you can drive it.'

"I used to come back from school and sit on the kart in the afternoon, just stay there," he said.

Nickname Sticks

The lack of a proper circuit in Manaus, a bustling metropolis known for its waterfront and ornate opera house, was overcome by marking out a track in a parking lot with old tyres.

"Of course at the beginning I was just racing for fun," said Pizzonia. "And then it became a weekend party for the family because my brother was racing, my father was racing and my sister was racing. Everyone in the family."

After winning the small local championship, Pizzonia moved south to Sao Paulo and was an immediate winner in karts before moving to Europe as a teenager to compete in the Formula Vauxhall championship.

The family raced on for another year until Pizzonia's older brother went to the United States to study, his sister decided she did not want to compete any more and his father began complaining about his aching ribs.

Pizzonia won Formula Vauxhall in 1998, Formula Renault in 1999 and the British Formula Three crown the year after.

In 2002 he became an official Williams Formula One test driver while also competing in Formula 3000, finishing a disappointing eighth in that series.

This season he is one of four new faces and the first Grand Prix driver from the north of a country that has provided some great champions over the years.

Dubbed 'Jungle Boy' when he first arrived in Britain, Pizzonia was a gift to headline writers after he and Webber replaced Briton Eddie Irvine and Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa at Jaguar.

He says he is happy for the nickname to stick even if the boy has become a man.

"I am from the jungle and I don't mind," he said. "When I first came to England it was a big shock for everyone...no-one ever came from the Amazon to Europe to race before.

"But all my family are still there, I go to Manaus when I can and I really like it there."

Big Cat

Former Jaguar team principal Niki Lauda described Pizzonia as "a very gifted, raw racer who will undoubtedly inject a new lease of life into Formula One".

The opinion was shared by Frank Williams. "He has disappointed himself in Formula 3000 and surprised us at the same time," he said before Pizzonia moved to Jaguar. "But we rate him very highly and he should have a strong career in Formula One, there's no question about that."

The rookie made an immediate impact when he rolled and wrote off a $70,000 Jaguar saloon car at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya last November while giving three passengers a ride. He then crashed his R3C racer a week later.

He has stayed on track since then and says he will be ready for his big day in Melbourne.

"I'm sure it's going to be very exciting but when you have the helmet on you have to forget everything and concentrate on driving the car," he said.

"It's going to be special, going to be different, but at the same time I don't want it to be different. I want it to be a normal race.

"Formula One is a new challenge, totally different and fantastic. But I've been working really hard to be here and now I just have to do my job and try to prove what I can do."

Pizzonia said he was grateful to the Formula 3000 experience for toughening him up mentally as well as introducing him to most of the European tracks.

"I think I am in the right place at the right time and I think I am ready," he said.

"The F3000 thing was very important for me because I learnt all the tracks and also because before that I was winning everything, I was never lower than third on the grid and to be sometimes at the back was also good.

"The results that I had in F3000 don't matter any more because now I'm here and I have to prove what I can do."