🇧🇷 Cristiano da Matta

Cristiano da Matta was an established professional racing driver who competed in single-seater championships at the highest level. He spent two seasons in Formula 1 with Toyota between 2003 and 2004, taking 28 starts across that period. Earlier in his career he had raced in International Formula 3000, the series' feeder championship, with ten starts in 1996.[1]

Da Matta's Formula 1 career ran for two full seasons, finishing 14th in the championship standings in 2004, his final year in the series. His best results came against a field that included some of the era's strongest drivers. He finished ahead of Mark Webber, an elite professional who would later win the WEC Le Mans 24 Hours, in four separate races; he also beat Ralf Schumacher, an established Gold-graded professional with 180 Formula 1 starts, on three occasions. Against Fernando Alonso, who would become a three-time Formula 1 world champion, da Matta typically finished behind him but competed regularly against him across the two seasons.[2]

Da Matta's career in the indexed record spans from his Formula 3000 campaign in 1996 through his Formula 1 exit in 2004. His most notable achievement outside Formula 1 was winning the CART Championship in 2002, which came before his move to Toyota's Formula 1 programme.