A former Formula 1 driver was arrested in the United States after an alleged assault. Footage posted on social media shows former racer Antonio Pizzonia, who drove for Jaguar and Williams in the F1 World Championship, in an altercation with another man at a race meet in Texas on Saturday.
As reported by TMZ, Pizzonia was booked into a local jail at around 6pm after his arrest. Montgomery County Police published an image of the Brazilian in custody, before he was later released. The alleged assault took place at a karting track where Pizzonia was present to watch his son, Antonio Pizzonia Neto, compete.
Footage posted on social media shows a man speaking to and wagging his finger at a young racer who was wearing a helmet, believed to be Pizzonia junior, from behind a see-through metal fence. That man then receives a karate-style kick from Pizzonia, who appears suddenly on camera, who then throws a punch with his right hand.
The pair were separated by onlookers, though that did not prevent the former F1 racer from being arrested. After his release, the 45-year-old posted on his Instagram account: “Everyone, I’m okay and I’m back at home.
“Indeed there was an incident to which, today, I would have reacted in a different way. I understood at that moment that my son, a child, was being coerced by an adult and instinctively I defended him. Thank you to everyone for your messages of support.”
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Pizzonia also posted multiple videos on his story, of himself playing with his daughter at home. Aged 45, he has himself continued to race beyond the end of his short F1 career, which spanned three seasons between 2003 and 2005.
He made his debut with Jaguar, racing alongside Mark Webber but was dropped after 12 Grands Prix, having failed to score a point. He was retained as a test driver by Williams and raced four times in 2004 in place of the injured Ralf Schumacher, scoring six points.
Pizzonia remained a reserve for 2005 but again got chances to drive, racing five more times for Williams and adding two more points to his career total. But he again would not win a permanent race seat for 2006, the team instead opting to sign newly-crowned GP2 champion Nico Rosberg, a future world champion.
Pizzonia raced a few times in GP2 himself after that but mostly stuck to motorsport events in his homeland. He competed in the Brazilian Stock Car championship over many years, though recently returned to Europe for the BOSS GP Racing series in which he won the Open Class title in 2023 and 2024.
