Franco Colapinto has been announced by Williams as their new driver for the remaining part of the 2024 F1 season. This will mark the first Argentinian F1 driver in 23 years, when Gaston Hugo Mazzacane represented Argentine on the Formula One scene. But who was the last Argenitnian F1 driver?
Who Is Gaston Mazzacane?
Gaston Hugo Mazzacane was born on May 8, 1975 in La Plata, Argentina. His racing career spanned over 20 years before he retired in 2018. Mazzacane is best known for being Argentina’s last F1 driver, competing in the 2000 and 2001 seasons.
Early Racing Career
Gaston Mazzacane’s father, Hugo, named him after the successful Argentine touring car racer Gaston Perkins. The last name Mazzacane literally translates from Italian as “kill the dog.” Gaston began racing go-karts in his youth, winning regional championships in Argentina.
He moved up to racing touring cars in the early 1990s. In 1993, Mazzacane tried his hand at South American Formula 3, taking pole position three times and winning five races in his debut season. His early success convinced him to race in Europe, where the competition was much stiffer.
Formula 3 and Formula 3000
Gaston Mazzacane competed in the Italian Formula 3 Championship in 1994 and 1995. He drove for teams RC Motorsport and BVM Racing during this period. Though he showed flashes of speed, the results were modest in the ultra-competitive junior formula.
For 1996, Gaston Mazzacane graduated to International Formula 3000 with the Auto Sport Racing team. The powerful V8-powered Lola chassis were a handful for the young Argentine. He struggled in his first season in the feeder series, failing to score points while teammates Marcelo Battistuzzi and Andre Couto found some success. Mazzacane continued in F3000 for 1997 and 1998, driving for Auto Sport and Astromega respectively. Though he earned his first points in 1998, his time in F3000 yielded no wins and little indication he would succeed in Formula 1.
Becoming Minardi Test Driver
Mazzacane’s connections to sponsors back home in Argentina kept his career alive despite the middling results. He leveraged those relationships into becoming the test driver for the Minardi F1 team in 1999. Minardi was known to take on pay drivers to help fund car development and operations. As test driver, Mazzacane participated in Friday practice sessions while honing his skills behind the scenes.
Minardi F1 Driver
Surprise 2000 Debut
In a surprise announcement, Minardi confirmed Gaston Mazzacane would race alongside Marc Gene in 2000, replacing Esteban Tuero. Few expected Gaston to make the jump from test driver so quickly. “I intend to learn over the first half of the season and then I feel I will have the confidence to perform well,” a young Mazzacane told reporters.
He proved right away in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix that he could challenge his more experienced teammate. Mazzacane qualified just a tenth slower than Gene and ahead of fellow rookies like Jenson Button and Nick Heidfeld. Though his race ended prematurely, a fighting drive to 10th place in treacherous conditions at Brazil turned heads.
Flashes of Brilliance
Throughout the 2000 season, Mazzacane demonstrated pace that surprised paddock veterans. He outqualified Gene at three races – Imola, Montreal, and Hockenheim. An opportunistic drive at a wet Indianapolis saw Mazzacane running 3rd and holding up McLaren’s Mika Hakkinen, before the Finn finally found a way by. Mechanical gremlins ended many other promising runs.
Still, Gaston Mazzacane proved rather reliable, finishing 11 of 17 races in his rookie season. This included an impressive 8th place finish at the Nurburgring. Minardi took 10th in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead of Prost and Arrows, thanks in part to Gaston maximizing the performance of the chronically underfunded team.
Caught In Team Struggles
Behind the scenes, Minardi endured financial and ownership struggles that threatened their place on the F1 grid. As the season wound down, it appeared Mazzacane’s sponsors had arranged a buyout of the team. But the deal collapsed at the last moment. Minardi lost sponsors and drivers Gene & Tuero for 2001. Gaston Mazzacane was left looking for a new drive despite reasonable results as a rookie.
The Prost Nightmare
Landing at Prost Grand Prix alongside Jean Alesi must have felt like a dream come true at first. The French squad had finished ahead of Minardi in 2000 and offered a Ferrari engine, albeit a rebadged customer unit. But from the start, Prost was skeptical of Mazzacane’s talent despite beating CART’s Oriol Servia for the seat.
The 2001 Prost AP04 chassis proved ill-handling and unreliable. Mazzacane retired from the first two races before an anonymous 12th place in Malaysia. An accident in the fourth round at Imola was the last straw. Prost exercised an early performance clause in Gaston’s contract, replacing him with Luciano Burti after just four dismal races.
Exile From Formula 1
Being dumped by Prost left Gaston Mazzacane in limbo. He tested with Arrows but could not secure a race drive for 2002. An attempt to enter that season with the Phoenix Finance team went bust when the FIA refused their entry. So at just 26 years old, the Argentine’s F1 career was over.
It would be over 20 years until his countryman Franco Colapinto broke the drought of Argentinian drivers when he entered F1 with Williams in 2024.
Brief Comeback Attempt
After missing 2003, Mazzacane came back to single-seaters with a partial season in Champ Cars in 2004. Driving for Dale Coyne Racing, he scored a season-best P6 finish in Toronto. But overall results were not impressive enough to continue into 2005.
Touring Cars And Beyond
Though his time in open wheel racing ended, Gaston Mazzacane enjoyed a long second career racing sedans and sports cars primarily in South America. From 2006-2018, Gaston competed mainly in the Argentine touring car series Top Race V6 and Turismo Competicion 2000, scoring a championship in the latter in 2018.
There were also entries in the FIA GT Championship, Daytona 24 Hours, and the Brazilian Formula Truck series before Mazzacane finally retired at age 43.
The Pay Driver Legacy
Gaston Mazzacane’s career leaves a complicated legacy. He achieved the dream of driving for legendary F1 teams like Minardi and Prost. Yet critics labeled him a “pay driver” who bought those seats rather than earning them outright. His sponsorship dollars certainly played a key role in joining Minardi’s race team so quickly.
But Gaston Mazzacane demonstrated in junior formulas and his rookie F1 campaign that he possessed legitimate pace on his day. His aggressive style won admirers for punching above his weight. Politics and poor timing robbed him of a longer career at the pinnacle of motorsports.
As the last driver to carry the Argentine flag in F1 for over 20 years, Mazzacane deserves credit for clinging to his dream despite the intense pressure and scrutiny. For a brief glorious period, he lived the life of a Formula 1 driver. But for Argentine, the hopes are that Franco Colapinto will be better driver than the last Argentinian F1 driver.
