{"id":408219,"date":"2026-01-14T08:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T08:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/408219\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T08:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T08:08:11","slug":"ex-f1-driver-antonio-pizzonia-arrested-for-assault-after-incident-in-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/408219\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex F1 Driver Antonio Pizzonia Arrested for Assault After Incident in Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Formula 1<\/a> driver Antonio Pizzonia was arrested<\/a> after allegedly assaulting a man in the paddock of a junior race at the Speedsportz Racing Park in New Caney, Texas on Saturday, January 10.<\/p>\n

Video footage shared to social media<\/a> appears to show Pizzonia, 45, running up behind the man and kicking him in the back as he leapt onto him in a karate kick. Pizzonia then appeared to throw a punch before the two were separated.<\/p>\n

Pizzonia addressed the incident via his Instagram Story on Monday, January 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys im fine. I\u2019m at home,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThere was actually one episode of which I would have reacted differently today. I understood at that moment that my child, a child, was being coerced by another adult and instinctively defended him. Thank you everyone for the messages of support.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: UFC Champion Cain Velasquez Sentenced to Prison in Attempted Murder Case<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tFormer UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez has been sentenced to five years in prison for attempted murder.\u00a0 Velasquez, 42, received the sentence in a Santa Clara, California, courtroom on Monday, March 24. The decorated MMA star was present for the sentencing alongside members of his family. Judge Arthur Bolcanegra issued the sentence with 1,283 days [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n

Pizzonia was booked in a Montgomery County jail on Saturday evening, according to TMZ<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Racing runs in Pizzonia\u2019s family, as his son, Antonio Pizzonia Neto, was competing at the time of the incident. Brazil\u2019s Grande Premio reports that Neto, 13, was having an argument with the individual Pizzonia allegedly assaulted, who was another competitor\u2019s father. Neto finished ninth in the race.<\/p>\n

Pizzonia shares Neto and daughter Antonella with his wife, B\u00e1rbara Balbeque. He also shares daughter, Sophia, 21, with ex-girlfriend and Brazilian track and field Gold medalist Maurren Maggi.<\/p>\n

The F1 star was previously the subject of controversy in 2017 when video surfaced of him and Balbeque arguing while in a Mercedes. Balbeque was seen leaning out of the vehicle and screaming for help.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ Alum Ian Ziering Accused of Battery and Assault\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIan Ziering faces accusations of battery and assault two years after an alleged road rage incident. Ziering, 61, is the target of a civil complaint filed in Los Angeles County by Jacob Hernandez,\u00a0People\u00a0reported on Monday, December 29. According to the outlet, Hernandez claims that the\u00a0Beverly Hills, 90210\u00a0alum verbally and physically assaulted him during an incident [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n

PIzzonia denied any physical altercation between the two at the time, claiming the incident was just a \u201cnormal little situation, a couple\u2019s argument. I left with the car door open. There was an argument, just couple stuff,\u201d according to Grande Premio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The former driver began his Formula 1 career with Jaguar in 2003, but was replaced midway through his first season when he failed to acquire any points. The next year, he caught on with Williams, where he raced from 2004 to 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of things going on at Jaguar,\u201d Pizzonia said in a 2004 interview with Atlas F1<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t really want to go back to that \u2013 for me it\u2019s part of the past \u2013 but it was very frustrating for me. Right from the very start, things went completely wrong with the team \u2013 things just seemed to happen that didn\u2019t help much, and I think the team didn\u2019t help me much either.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: 9-Year-Old Motorbike Racer Dies in Crash During Honda Junior Cup Practice<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tCourtesy of Paseo Tuerca\/Instagram Motorbike racer Lorenzo Somaschini died on Monday, June 17, following a fatal crash during a practice round at the Honda Junior Cup in Brazil. SuperBike Brazil, the sponsor of the racing event, confirmed Somaschini\u2019s death in a statement. \u201cSuperBike Brasil announces, with great sadness and regret, the passing of pilot Lorenzo [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n

Pizzonia participated in 20 Grand Prix during his Formula 1 career, with his best result being four seventh-place finishes, all while racing for Williams.<\/p>\n

Williams technical director Sam Michael, who worked with Pizzonia, recalled the promise that he had early on in his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go right back to the end of 2001, when we first tested him, it was pretty clear that he was talented right away, so we gave him the test drive for 2002, and there were no fewer than five or six times where he was exceptional compared to Juan Pablo [Montoya] and Ralf [Schumacher] in terms of talent,\u201d he told Atlas F1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Formula 1 driver Antonio Pizzonia was arrested after allegedly assaulting a man in the paddock of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,51710,75,578,576,577,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-408219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrity-arrests","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-f1","13":"tag-formula-1","14":"tag-formula1","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}