Vitantonio Liuzzi

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Vitantonio Liuzzi
Nationality	Italian
Car #	18
Current team	Toro Rosso
World Championship career
Races	23
World Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	2005 San Marino Grand Prix
Latest race	2007 Australian Grand Prix
2006 Championship position	19th (1 pt)

Vitantonio "Tonio" Liuzzi (born 6 August 1981 in Locorotondo) is an Italian Formula One driver, who drives for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Contents 1 Karting 2 Formula Renault, F3 and F3000 3 Formula One 4 Complete Formula One results 5 Personal 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Karting

Vitantonio Liuzzi, like most auto racing drivers, began his career at the age of 9 in kart racing (1991). Highlights of his early career include winning the 1993 Italian Karting Championship, and in 1995, taking second place in the Karting World Championship and fifth place in the European Championship. His karting career culminated when winning the Karting World Championship in 2001. He managed to beat Formula One champion Michael Schumacher in one race the same year at Kerpen, the German's 'home' kart track ^[1].

[edit] Formula Renault, F3 and F3000

Liuzzi then moved on to cars; he raced in the 2001 German Formula Renault Championship, finishing second. Racing in the German Formula 3 Championship, he managed only ninth place overall. However, in that year he won the San Marino international F3 race and had test drives for the Coloni Formula 3000 team and Williams, the Formula One constructor ^[2]. Coloni took Liuzzi on board for the 2003 F3000 season in which he finished fourth overall. He moved to the Arden team for the following F3000 season. There, he dominated, winning seven of the ten races, and taking the title with one race left ^[3].

[edit] Formula One

Liuzzi's form in Formula 3000 led to speculation that Ferrari might want to employ him ^[4], either as a test driver at their Formula One team, or at Sauber, the Formula One team with whom they are closely associated. Indeed, he had a test drive with Sauber in September, 2004 ^[5], but ultimately lost out on a race seat to Jacques Villeneuve. In November, 2004 he was given another test drive, this time with Red Bull. This led to him joining Red Bull for 2005 ^[6]. Initially it seemed that he might be given the race seat alongside David Coulthard, but the team favoured Christian Klien ^[7], leaving Liuzzi with the position of test driver. Despite Klien's good performances in the first three races of the season, Red Bull abided by an agreement they made with Liuzzi and Klien before the season that they would both have a chance to race. They announced that Liuzzi would replace Klien for the San Marino, Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix. Liuzzi impressed, scoring his maiden point on his debut after both BAR drivers were disqualified from the San Marino race. After the Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix he was given another race at the European Grand Prix, before his seat was handed back to Klien for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Following Red Bull's purchase of the Minardi team (renamed Scuderia Toro Rosso or Team Red Bull in Italian), Liuzzi was rewarded with a race seat in the 'B-team' ^[8]. At the United States Grand Prix, he scored the team's first, and so far only point, with an eighth place finish after a race-long battle with Coulthard and Nico Rosberg. However, that was the only point he and the team scored in 2006.

Liuzzi was confirmed as staying with the team for the 2007 season at the lauch of the STR2 on February 13, 2007.^[9]

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key)

Yr	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
2005	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull RB1	Cosworth V10	AUS TD	MAL TD	BHR TD	SMR 8	ESP Ret	MON Ret	EUR 9	CAN	USA	FRA TD	GBR TD	GER TD	HUN TD	TUR TD	ITA TD	BEL TD	BRA TD	JPN TD	CHN TD	24th	1
2006	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR1	Cosworth V10	BHR 11	MAL 11	AUS Ret	SMR 14	EUR Ret	ESP 15	MON 10	GBR 13	CAN 13	USA 8	FRA 13	GER 10	HUN Ret	TUR Ret	ITA 14	CHN 10	JPN 14	BRA 16		19th	1
2007	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR2	Ferrari V8	AUS 14	MAL	BHR	ESP	MON	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA	BEL	JPN	CHN	BRA			14th	0

Preceded by Björn Wirdheim

International Formula 3000 Champion 2004

Succeeded by Nico Rosberg (GP2)

[edit] Personal

• Liuzzi lives in Pescara, Italy.

• Previously lived in Hemel Hempstead, England where he shared an apartment with Red Bull Racing driver Christian Klien.

• In addition to his native Italian, Liuzzi speaks English and French.

• He lists Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell as his idols.

• Liuzzi has three piercings his left upper ear, left eyebrow and left lower ear.

• His manager is the former Lotus boss Peter Collins.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The official website for Vitantonio Liuzzi
• Vitantonio Liuzzi unofficial Fotolog
• An unofficial fansite for Vitantonio Liuzzi
• Liuzzi Fan Base unofficial fansite
• Vitantonio Liuzzi profile and statistics

Constructors and drivers competing in the 2007 Formula One championship
McLaren	Renault	Ferrari	Honda	BMW	Toyota	Red Bull	Williams	Toro Rosso	Spyker	Super Aguri
1 Alonso 2 Hamilton	3 Fisichella 4 Kovalainen	5 Massa 6 Räikkönen	7 Button 8 Barrichello	9 Heidfeld 10 Kubica	11 Schumacher 12 Trulli	14 Coulthard 15 Webber	16 Rosberg 17 Wurz	18 Liuzzi 19 Speed	20 Sutil 21 Albers	22 Sato 23 Davidson

Scuderia Toro Rosso

Personnel: Franz Tost | Gerhard Berger | Alex Hitzinger

Current drivers: Vitantonio Liuzzi | Scott Speed

Formula One cars: STR1 | STR2