Gastón Mazzacane

Gastón Hugo Mazzacane (born 8 May 1975) is an Argentine racing driver. He participated in 21 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting in the 2000 Australian Grand Prix. His father, Hugo Mazzacane, named him after the late Argentine touring car racer Gastón Perkins.

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

Racing career

File:Mazzacane en Minardi F1 2000.jpg

Mazzacane driving for Minardi in 2000

Mazzacane is often known as a "pay driver". 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 tenth place in Brazil. He went on to outqualify Mazzacane 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 would be the last Argentinian to drive in Formula One until the 2024 Italian Grand Prix when Franco Colapinto drove for Williams.

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.

Mazzacane 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:

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†	21st	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:

^† 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	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points	Ref
2004	Dale Coyne	19	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
Source:

External links

• Gastón Mazzacane in focus Template:In lang
• Profile on F1 Rejects