Cristiano da Matta

Cristiano Monteiro da Matta (born 19 September 1973) is a Brazilian former professional racing driver. He won the CART Championship in 2002, and drove in Formula One with the Toyota team from 2003 to 2004.

Biography

Origins and early career

Da Matta driving for West Surrey Racing at Silverstone during the 1995 British Formula 3 Championship season.

Da Matta's father was Toninho da Matta, a fourteen-time Brazilian touring car champion. Born in Belo Horizonte, Cristiano da Matta began karting at the age of sixteen, adopting a helmet design nearly identical to his famous father's helmet. He quickly rose to the top by winning numerous karting championships before winning the 1993 Brazilian Formula Ford championship. In 1994, he continued his successful ways, winning the Brazilian Formula 3 championship against the likes of Hélio Castroneves and Ricardo Zonta. In 1995, da Matta participated in the British Formula 3 series, winning one race and placing eighth in the standings. He then placed eighth in the following year's Formula 3000 championship, with a best finish of fourth at Pau.

North American racing 1997 saw da Matta move to the United States for the Indy Lights racing series, in which he won Rookie of the Year honors. The next year (1998), he won the championship by winning seven races and securing four pole positions. In 1999, da Matta raced in the CART series for Team Arciero Wells, which were running Toyota engines; da Matta drove a Toyota-powered car from then until 2004. His first win came in 2000, and despite some sponsor opposition he joined the front-running Newman/Haas Racing team for 2001. He won the CART drivers' championship in 2002 under Toyota power with the Newman/Haas Racing team, dominating the year with seven race wins and seven poles.

Formula One Da Matta driving for the Toyota team at the 2004 United States Grand Prix.

Da Matta completed a move to Formula One in 2003, with the Toyota Formula One team. He scored 10 championship points that year, four more than seasoned veteran and teammate Olivier Panis, and soon made a name for himself in Formula One when he spent much of the first half of the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix hounding reigning World Champion Michael Schumacher in the monsoon-hit race before ultimately finishing tenth. He led the 2003 British Grand Prix for seventeen laps after the race was disrupted by a protester who invaded the track and triggered the deployment of the Safety Car. This caused most of the front-running cars to make unscheduled pit stops leaving da Matta in the lead, ultimately finishing seventh for one of four points-scoring finishes in his debut season. His fortunes took a downturn in 2004, however. Having scored only three championship points, da Matta lost his race seat to Ricardo Zonta after the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim. This was not only due to performance issues, but also due to da Matta openly making statements about how uncompetitive the Toyota was.

Return to USA In 2005, da Matta moved back to the Champ Car World Series, to race for the PKV Racing team. That season, he won the race at Portland, and finished 11th overall in the standings. For the 2006 Champ Car season, he switched to the Dale Coyne Racing to drive the No. 19 Ford Lola, until 9 June 2006, when he switched teams again, to take over A. J. Allmendinger's seat at RuSPORT. Second place at San Jose left him sixth overall in the series.

Collision with deer during test On 3 August 2006, da Matta's car was involved in a collision with a deer that ran in front of him as he headed towards turn 6 during Champ Car open testing at Road America. He hit the deer with his right front tire, the deer then flew back and hit da Matta in the cockpit. It is believed when the deer hit da Matta in the cockpit, he was knocked unconscious. He remained unconscious with his foot still on the throttle when the safety crew arrived and extricated da Matta from the car. Da Matta was then airlifted to Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah, Wisconsin, where he underwent surgery to remove a subdural hematoma. Following the surgery, da Matta was placed in an induced coma, to allow for the swelling to subside. As of 7 August, da Matta was making "slow but steady progress", while the doctors were working on reducing da Matta's level of sedation. This slow recovery was confirmed on 9 August, as it was reported that da Matta was able to move "all of his extremities spontaneously as well as in response to physical stimulation". On 20 August, da Matta was transferred out of intensive care. On 30 August, da Matta was confirmed to have made steady progress, conversing in English and Portuguese, and walking short distances. On 21 September 2006, da Matta was allowed to leave the hospital after having recovered better than expected.

When the Champ Car World Series returned to race in the Grand Prix of Road America on 24 September, da Matta gave the traditional command - "start your engines". Throughout the next couple of years, he engaged in a training and therapy regime while deciding his racing future.

Comeback On 20 March 2008, da Matta climbed back into a race car for the first time since his accident, completing a two-day test in a Riley Daytona Prototype prepared by reigning Rolex Sports Car Series champions GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing. He found speed right away, and team owner Bob Stallings said "the comeback has begun." da Matta said, "After the test, I realized I still know how to do this", "The biggest thing I felt was just a sense of relief. For me, it was a big, big relief, bigger than big". da Matta paired with former Champ Car champion, Jimmy Vasser, to enter the Rolex Series racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2008. after a solid race, the pair were classified in 32nd position.

Brazilian Championship Formula Truck In December 2009, da Matta tested a Fórmula Truck vehicle owned by Iveco, and in January 2010 confirmed that he would run the 2010 Fórmula Truck season for the team.

American Le Mans Series In 2011, da Matta signed for Rocketsports Racing to race in the American Le Mans Series. He scored six points at the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Film and media Da Matta and his 1999 car appear in the movie Driven, starring Sylvester Stallone.

Da Matta is a playable character in the video games Formula One 2003 and Formula One 04.

In 2017, a documentary was released about his and his father's lives in motorsport, entitled "Família Gasolina" (Gasoline Family). It is available for free on YouTube.

Post-racing career Da Matta is no longer racing and is involved in the financial and logistical side of the family Da Matta Design clothing business.

Racing career Career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 1993 Brazilian Formula Ford Championship ? ? 4 4 ? ? ? 1st 1994 Formula 3 Sudamericana ? ? 4 7 ? ? ? 1st 1995 British Formula Three Championship West Surrey Racing 18 1 0 1 3 81 8th 1996 International Formula 3000 Championship Pacific Racing 10 0 0 0 0 7 9th 1997 Indy Lights Brian Stewart Racing 13 3 1 4 5 141 3rd 1998 Indy Lights Tasman Motorsports 14 4 3 4 8 154 1st 1999 CART FedEx Championship Series Arciero-Wells Racing 20 0 0 0 0 32 18th 2000 CART FedEx Championship Series PPI Motorsports 20 1 0 0 2 112 10th 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series Newman/Haas Racing 20 3 0 0 5 140 5th 2002 CART FedEx Championship Series Newman/Haas Racing 19 7 7 6 11 237 1st 2003 Formula One Panasonic Toyota Racing 16 0 0 0 0 10 13th 2004 Formula One Panasonic Toyota Racing 12 0 0 0 0 3 17th 2005 Champ Car World Series PKV Racing 13 1 0 0 1 139 11th 2006 Champ Car World Series Dale Coyne Racing 4 0 0 0 0 134 13th RuSPORT 5 0 0 0 1 2008 Rolex Sports Car Series GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing 2 0 0 0 0 41 45th 2010 Fórmula Truck Scuderia Iveco 10 0 0 0 0 13 23rd 2011 American Le Mans Series Jaguar RSR 3 0 0 0 0 6 30th 2017 Fórmula Truck Scuderia Iveco 2 0 0 0 0 13 13th

Complete British Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Engine Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Pts 1995 West Surrey Racing Mugen A SIL SIL THR THR DON SIL SIL DON DON OUL BRH BRH SNE PEM PEM SIL SIL THR 8th 81

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 DC Points 1996 Pacific Racing NÜR PAU PER HOC SIL SPA MAG EST MUG HOC 9th 7

Complete Indy Lights results (key)

Complete CART/Champ Car results (key)

Complete Formula One results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 WDC Pts. Panasonic Toyota Racing Toyota TF103 Toyota RVX-03 3.0 V10 AUS MAL BRA SMR ESP AUT MON CAN EUR FRA GBR GER HUN ITA USA JPN 13th 10 Panasonic Toyota Racing Toyota TF104 Toyota RVX-04 3.0 V10 AUS MAL BHR SMR ESP MON EUR CAN USA FRA GBR GER HUN BEL ITA CHN JPN BRA 17th 3 † Did not finish the race, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete Fórmula Truck results Year Entrant Truck 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Points 2010 Scuderia Iveco Iveco GUA RIO CAR CAM INT LON JOG VEL CUR BRA 23rd 13

Complete American Le Mans Series results Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points Ref 2011 Jaguar RSR GT Jaguar XKR GT2 Jaguar 5.0 L V8 SEB LBH LIM MOS MID AME BAL MON PET 26th 6