Pizzonia to race for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team at Spa

Oxford, 06 September 2005. The BMW WilliamsF1 Team confirmed today that
Antonio Pizzonia will race for the team at the Belgian Grand Prix at
Spa-Francorchamps this weekend, in place of Nick Heidfeld. Antonio
Pizzonia, the team's long-term test driver, stepped into Heidfeld's
shoes last weekend in Monza, after he was declared unfit after Friday
practice at the Italian Grand Prix following a testing accident on
August 26. Given the intense schedule of back-to-back races, the team
have decided to allow Nick sufficient time to fully recuperate. In
addition, the team will avoid the need to make fitness assessments and
driver nominations on the Friday of the Belgian Grand Prix, which would
otherwise handicap the team by requiring Antonio Pizzonia to run first
in the Belgian qualifying session. In relation to this decision, Frank
Williams said, "Our first priority is prudence in relation to
Nick's condition. Although the broad view is that he may well be ready
to race by Friday, the back-to-back calendar at this time does not
allow the luxury of more time to reach this conclusion, so it is best
both for Nick, and indeed the team if we make a clear and early decision
that Antonio will race this weekend. In addition to allowing Nick more
time to recover, we can nominate Antonio now and he can benefit on
Saturday in Belgium with a good starting position for qualifying from
the strong seventh place finish he secured in Monza." Editor's
Notes Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia, who will be 25 years old this Sunday,
has raced for the BMW WilliamsF1 Team on five occasions and has scored
8 points for the team, including two points last weekend when he
finished seventh after starting the Italian Grand Prix from 16th position.