Pizzonia commits to Williams

The Brazilian admitted his disappointment at the team's decision to give the seat to Nick Heidfeld, but moved to dampen speculation that he may quit Williams and Formula 1 to pursue his racing career elsewhere by committing to the role of test and reserve driver for 2005.

Even though Williams has stated that it will run just 30 days testing in 2005, it is considered unlikely that Pizzonia could participate in a parallel race programme in another series because F1 regulations stipulate that teams' reserve drivers must be present at all three days of each of the 19 world championship rounds.

"Obviously I'm quite disappointed," said Pizzonia, "but I'm still quite young and there is always the future. Although this is not the decision I wanted, I'm pleased to be a part of the team and I have to do my best. I will do what I can to help the team to win the championship."

"I'm a racing driver and naturally I would rather be racing in all the grands prix. But in the past I have also learnt how important test work is for the success of the team as a whole. I also know as official reserve driver that you have to be ready to step into a race seat at any time."

Pizzonia, who stood in impressively for the injured Ralf Schumacher at Williams during 2004, and who would have finished third at Spa had his gearbox not failed, was believed to have been a shoe-in for the drive initially before Heidfeld impressed when he was invited to test for the team at Jerez post-season.

There followed a lengthy evaluation period between the two drivers over the winter as Williams tried to decide which one should partner Webber in 2005. This after the team found itself without a second driver when it lost its case to sign Jenson Button following a hearing with the Contracts Recognition Board in September.

"It was a massively close call because both of them were great," said Williams technical director Sam Michael of the decision to choose between Heidfeld and Pizzonia.

BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen backed up Michael's claims: "Both drivers conducted six weeks of tests for the team. It was not just a shoot-out. They both worked so well with the team and it was a lot closer than it looks."

Pizzonia made his F1 debut with Jaguar Racing in 2003 but was unceremoniously dropped before the British Grand Prix, having been outpaced by then team-mate Webber. The Brazilian joined Williams as a test driver in 2004 and later speculated that he had not been given equal treatment to the Australian during their time at Jaguar, something Webber strenuously denied.

Webber admitted that he was pleased to see Heidfeld become his team-mate. "It's been a fairly heavy fight for the seat and I'm happy to be Nick's team-mate," said the Australian. "I haven't had any podiums like Nick has and I'm looking forward together with him to push the team forward."