Norberto Fontana

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Norberto Fontana
Nationality  Flag of Argentina Argentinian
Formula One World Championship career
Active years 1997
Teams Sauber
Races 4
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podium finishes    0
Career points 0
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First race 1997 French Grand Prix
Last race 1997 European Grand Prix

Norberto Edgardo Fontana (born January 20, 1975) is a racing driver from Arrecifes, Buenos Aires province, Argentina. He participated in 4 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on June 29, 1997. His opportunity to race came as a result of two separate injuries sustained by regular Sauber driver Gianni Morbidelli during the 1997 season. He scored no championship points.

Norberto Fontana driving a Toyota Corolla touring car during a TC 2000 race at the Curitiba circuit in 2006.
Norberto Fontana driving a Toyota Corolla touring car during a TC 2000 race at the Curitiba circuit in 2006.

After F1, Fontana raced in Formula 3000, and he also made 8 CART starts in 2000 with a best finish of 11th at Cleveland. He subsequently moved into TC 2000, a national touring car racing series, in his native Argentina.

In 2006, in the Argentinian Magazine Olé, Fontana claimed that during the world championship deciding 1997 European Grand Prix in Jerez, Jean Todt visited the Sauber motorhome and told the Swiss team, which used Ferrari engines at the time, that the Saubers must block Jacques Villeneuve if they were in a position to do so in order to help Michael Schumacher win the World Championship. This was subsequently denied by both Peter Sauber and Jean Todt. However, Peter Sauber told Swiss newspaper Blick: "In the nine years that we co-operated, Ferrari never expressed the desire that we should obstruct an opponent of Schumacher's on the track."


[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Team WDC Points
1997 Sauber AUS
BRA
ARG
SMR
MON
ESP
CAN
FRA
Ret
GBR
9
GER
9
HUN
BEL
ITA
AUT
LUX
JPN
EUR
14
Sauber - 0

[edit] External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Gareth Rees
Formula Three Masters winner
1995
Succeeded by
Kurt Mollekens
Preceded by
Jörg Müller
German Formula Three champion
1995
Succeeded by
Jarno Trulli
Preceded by
Gabriel Ponce de León
TC2000 champion
2002
Succeeded by
Gabriel Ponce de León
Preceded by
Juan Manuel Silva
Turismo Carretera champion
2006
Succeeded by
Christian Ledesma