Gastón Mazzacane

Gastón Hugo Mazzacane (born 8 May 1975)[1] is an Argentine racing driver. He participated in 21 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 12 March 2000. He scored no championship points. His father, Hugo Mazzacane named him after Argentine touring car racer Gastón Perkins.[2]

Gastón Mazzacane
Mazzacane in 2018
Born (1975-05-08) 8 May 1975
La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Formula One World Championship career
NationalityArgentina Argentine
Active years20002001
TeamsMinardi, Prost
Entries21
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums0
Career points0
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
First entry2000 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry2001 San Marino Grand Prix

Mazzacane has also raced in Turismo Carretera and was the first TC Pick Up champion in 2018.[3]

Racing career

Mazzacane driving for Minardi in 2000

Mazzacane is Argentina's most recent Formula One driver, but is often known as a "pay driver". [4][5] He began his Formula One career in 1999 as the test driver for Minardi. In late February 2000, it was announced that he would be the teammate of Marc Gené in the race team. "I intend to learn over the first half of the season and then I feel I will have the confidence to perform well," Mazzacane told the press at the launch of the Minardi M02. His debut year in Formula One began with a broken gearbox at his first race, the 2000 Australian Grand Prix, followed by a 10th place in Brazil. He went on to outqualify Gené at Imola, a feat he later accomplished twice more. The German Grand Prix was a relative high point for him; after outqualifying his teammate, he finished 11th. His highlight in the spotlights this season was on a damp Indianapolis track when he famously overtook Mika Häkkinen, who was struggling after an early gamble on dry tyres. After running up to third without stopping, he ran over his pitcrew and dropped out of the race later. Nevertheless, he finished 11 of the 17 races that year and ranked third among drivers with the most kilometres raced.

At the start of 2001, Mazzacane tested for Arrows, but finally settled into the Prost team, taking over the seat of the Sauber-bound Nick Heidfeld. He beat CART's Oriol Servia for the Prost spot, and was announced as the second driver in January 2001. However, the 2001 San Marino Grand Prix was his final Formula One race. Alain Prost fired him by using a performance clause in his contract, and the vacancy was filled by Luciano Burti, who had recently been sacked from Jaguar Racing.

Mazzacane signed a contract with the reformed DART team a/k/a Phoenix, which had plans to race in the 2002 season. However, it was not to be as the team was barred from racing.

He then went to the US and competed in the last half of the 2004 Champ Car season with the Dale Coyne Racing #19 car.

Motorsport career results

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points
1996 Auto Sport Racing NÜR
Ret
PAU
DNQ
PER
14
HOC
Ret
SIL
11
SPA
19
MAG
Ret
EST
10
MUG
Ret
HOC
Ret
22nd 0
1997 Auto Sport Racing SIL
10
PAU
DNQ
HEL
Ret
NÜR
10
PER
15
HOC
10
A1R
17
SPA
11
MUG
10
JER
Ret
28th 0
1998 Team Astromega OSC
6
IMO
7
CAT
Ret
SIL
6
MON
12
PAU
9
A1R
Ret
HOC
Ret
HUN
Ret
SPA
DNQ
PER
13
NÜR
Ret
21st 2
1999 GP Racing IMO MON CAT MAG SIL
DNQ
A1R HOC HUN SPA NÜR NC 0
Sources:[4][6]

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 WDC Points
2000 Telefónica Minardi Fondmetal Minardi M02 Fondmetal V10 AUS
Ret
BRA
10
SMR
13
GBR
15
ESP
15
EUR
8
MON
Ret
CAN
12
FRA
Ret
AUT
12
GER
11
HUN
Ret
BEL
17
ITA
10
USA
Ret
JPN
15
MAL
13
NC 0
2001 Prost Acer Prost AP04 Acer V10 AUS
Ret
MAL
12
BRA
Ret
SMR
Ret
ESP AUT MON CAN EUR FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA USA JPN 25th 0
Sources:[6][7]

Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

American Open-Wheel

(key)

Champ Car

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rank Points Ref
2004 Dale Coyne LBH MTY MIL
16
POR
13
CLE
12
TOR
6
VAN
18
ROA
18
DEN
15
MTL
12
LS
13
LVS
15
SRF MXC 17th 73 [8]
Source:[4]

References

  1. Jenkins, Richard. "The World Championship drivers - Where are they now?". OldRacingCars.com. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
  2. "Gastón Mazzacane - Full Biography". F1 Rejects. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  3. "Mazzacane es el primer Campeón. Campeones - 25-11-2018". Archived from the original on 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2020-12-12.
  4. "Gaston Mazzacane – Motor Sport Magazine Database". Motor Sport Online. Retrieved 17 October 2018. Gastón Mazzacane bought his way onto the Formula 1 grid at the start of 2000 but his 21 starts proved he did not belong at the top level. Even the cash-strapped Prost Grand Prix invoked a performance clause in his contract to replace him with Luciano Burti after four races in 2001.
  5. Jim Weeks (14 July 2017). "Formula 1's Strange Relationship with 'Pay Drivers'". Vice Sports. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  6. "Gaston Mazzacane Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  7. "All championship race entries, by Gaston Mazzacane". ChicaneF1. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  8. "Gastón Mazzacane – 2004 Champ Car World Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 15, 2023.
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