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.
Early racing career
A graduate of karting in his home country, he raced a Datsun 280ZX during 1992 before a single season of South American Formula 3. Mazzacane moved to Italy in 1994 and won the junior class of that year’s Formula 2000 series.
Mazzacane also made his Italian F3 debut that year and finished 17th overall in 1995 for BVM Racing. Formula 3000 with Sport Auto Racing followed during 1996 and 1997 when, a couple of semi-decent qualifying performances apart, it proved to be a chastening experience without a championship point scored.
With Team Astromega for 1998, Mazzacane began the season by climbing through the field as others spun at a wet Oschersleben to finish sixth. He repeated that result at Silverstone after qualifying in a surprise fifth position and was 21st in the final standings.
Formula 1 with Minardi and Prost
Minardi’s F1 test driver for 1999, his limited race appearances that year included victory in a Sports Racing World Cup event at Magny-Cours when sharing a Ferrari 333SP with previous Minardi pay driver Giovanni Lavaggi.
Marc Gené and Mazzacane were Minardi’s race drivers for the 2000 F1 World Championship and the Argentinian finished eighth at the Nürburgring. That was as close as he would come to a points finish. He tested for both Arrows and Prost during the winter and joined the latter for the 2001 season. The association only lasted four races before Mazzacane was replaced to end 18 lacklustre months as a GP driver
Champ Cars at the end of his international career
He reappeared in Champ Cars in 2004 and finished sixth in Toronto with Dale Coyne’s Lola B02/00-Ford. Mazzacane has since raced in V6 saloon cars in Argentina, trucks in Brazil and the occasional sports car event overseas.
