Quick Facts
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Biography
Ricardo Teixeira (born 2 August 1984 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese-Angolan racing driver. He holds dual nationality and has raced under both nationalities at various points in his career. He was the first Angolan driver to drive a Formula 1 car when he was announced as a test driver for Team Lotus for 2011. He has been sponsored throughout his career by the Angolan oil company Sonangol.
Career
Formula BMW
Teixeira began his formula racing career in 2001 by driving in the Formula BMW Junior Cup in Portugal. He finished in 20th position in the drivers' championship.
Formula Three
Teixeira moved to the National Class of the British Formula 3 Championship in 2002, but did not start a race that year. In 2003 he raced occasionally in the BRSCC's ARP Formula Three Championship, taking one win and three podiums finish at club racing level.
He returned to the British Championship in 2005 after taking a couple of years out for study with the Carlin Motorsport team, finishing ninth in the National Class. The following season, he improved to seventh, despite switching teams to Performance Racing Europe part-way through the year finishing twice in the podium. In 2007, he moved up to the Championship Class of the series with Performance Racing, scoring no points. For 2008, he moved to the Ultimate Motorsport team's Mygale chassis. Teixeira also competed in two races of the German ATS Formel 3 Cup in 2007, and has driven in two Masters of Formula Three races, with a best finish of 24th.
GP2 Series
Teixeira was signed by the Trident Racing team to drive in the fifth and sixth rounds of the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season. He replaced Frankie Provenzano, and was the seventh competitor to drive one of the team's two entries. He was the first Angolan driver to compete at this level of motorsport. Trident kept a hold of Teixeira for the 2009 GP2 Series.
After two years away from the series, one in FIA Formula Two Championship and then as a test driver for the Lotus Formula One team, Teixeira returned to GP2 by signing with the Rapax team for the 2012 season, in which he partnered Tom Dillmann. After ten races, and with a best finish of 13th, he was replaced by Daniël de Jong after suffering from illness. He returned to action for the next round at Silverstone, with De Jong taking Dillmann's seat instead. Teixeira eventually finished 29th in the championship.
FIA Formula Two Championship
Teixeira moved to the FIA Formula Two Championship for 2010. He finished fifth in his third race in the series, at Marrakech, but suffered a spectacular aerial accident in the following race when he collided with Ivan Samarin under braking for a chicane. Teixeira was uninjured in the accident. Over the course of the season he amassed 23 points to finish 16th in the drivers' championship: his best showing in any series since 2006.
Formula One
After driving for Team Lotus in pre-season testing for the 2011 season, Teixeira was confirmed as a test driver for the team in March 2011.
Racing record
Career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Formula BMW Junior Cup Iberia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 20th | |
| 2002 | British Formula 3 Scholarship Class | Essential Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2003 | ARP Formula 3 Championship | Rowan Racing | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 47 | 8th |
| 2005 | British Formula 3 National Class | Carlin Motorsport | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 61 | 9th |
| 2006 | British Formula 3 National Class | Carlin Motorsport | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 74 | 7th |
| Performance Racing Europe | |||||||||
| 2007 | British Formula 3 | Performance Racing Europe | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20th |
| ATS Formel 3 Cup | Rennsport Rössler | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 23rd | |
| Masters of Formula 3 | Performance Racing Europe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 24th | |
| 2008 | British Formula 3 | Ultimate Motorsport | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21st |
| Masters of Formula 3 | Ultimate Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | NC | |
| 2008–09 | GP2 Asia Series | Trident Racing | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38th |
| 2009 | GP2 Series | Trident Racing | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26th |
| 2010 | Formula Two | MotorSport Vision | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 16th |
| 2011 | Formula One | Team Lotus | Test and official reserve driver | ||||||
| 2012 | GP2 Series | Rapax | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29th |
| 2013 | GP2 Series | Trident Racing | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34th |
| 2014 | Auto GP World Series | Super Nova International | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
Complete GP2 Series 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 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Trident Racing | CAT FEA Ret | CAT SPR 20 | MON FEA DNQ | MON SPR DNQ | IST FEA 14 | IST SPR 18 | SIL FEA Ret | SIL SPR 18 | NÜR FEA Ret | NÜR SPR 15 | HUN FEA Ret | HUN SPR 19 | VAL FEA Ret | VAL SPR 14 | SPA FEA Ret | SPA SPR 14 | MNZ FEA 16 | MNZ SPR 14 | ALG FEA 15 | ALG SPR 21 | 26th | 0 | ||||
| 2012 | Rapax | SEP FEA 21 | SEP SPR 24 | BHR1 FEA 17 | BHR1 SPR 13 | BHR2 FEA 23 | BHR2 SPR 20 | CAT FEA Ret | CAT SPR 23 | MON FEA 20 | MON SPR Ret | VAL FEA | VAL SPR | SIL FEA 18 | SIL SPR 15 | HOC FEA DSQ | HOC SPR 16 | HUN FEA 19 | HUN SPR 20 | SPA FEA 18 | SPA SPR 15 | MNZ FEA 20 | MNZ SPR 18 | MRN FEA 17 | MRN SPR 21 | 29th | 0 |
| 2013 | Trident Racing | SEP FEA | SEP SPR | BHR FEA | BHR SPR | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | MON FEA | MON SPR | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | NÜR FEA | NÜR SPR | HUN FEA 19 | HUN SPR 19 | SPA FEA 21 | SPA SPR 24 | MNZ FEA | MNZ SPR | MRN FEA | MRN SPR | YMC FEA | YMC SPR | 34th | 0 |
Complete GP2 Asia Series 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 | 11 | 12 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008–09 | Trident Racing | SHI FEA | SHI SPR | DUB FEA | DUB SPR | BHR1 FEA | BHR1 SPR | LSL FEA | LSL SPR | SEP FEA 17 | SEP SPR 19 | BHR2 FEA 17 | BHR2 SPR Ret | 38th | 0 |
Complete FIA Formula Two Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 19 | SIL 1 17 | SIL 2 14 | MAR 1 5 | MAR 2 Ret | MON 1 16 | MON 2 13 | ZOL 1 9 | ZOL 2 Ret | ALG 1 6 | ALG 2 Ret | BRH 1 16 | BRH 2 16 | BRN 1 9 | BRN 2 Ret | OSC 1 10 | OSC 2 16 | VAL 1 14 | VAL 2 Ret | 16th | 23 |
Complete Auto GP 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 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Super Nova International | MAR 1 | MAR 2 | LEC 1 WD | LEC 2 WD | HUN 1 | HUN 2 | MNZ 1 | MNZ 2 | IMO 1 | IMO 2 | RBR 1 | RBR 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | EST 1 | EST 2 | NC | 0 |