Sidepodcast - All for F1 and F1 for all

F1 encyclopedia

Luiz Razia

Formula 1 driver

Luiz Razia
Credit: Getty
Vital statistics for Luiz Razia
NationalityBRA
BirthplaceBarreiras, Brazil
Born4 April 1989
Age34

Luiz Razia was signed as test driver to both Virgin Racing and Team Lotus over the past few years. He made only two appearances at GP weekends, driving in Free Practice for Team Lotus in 2011, in China and Brazil. Razia was confirmed for the Marussia team ahead of the 2013 season but ousted at the last minute and left without a seat.

F1 biography

After competing in Formula 3 and Formula Renault in Brazil, Razia represented his country in the A1 Grand Prix season starting in 2006. He moved on to the World Series by Renault and was racing in GP2 by 2009.

Razia was brought into Formula One with the Virgin Racing team as reserve driver for the 2010 season. He participated in some Young Driver testing, before departing Virgin for their backmarker rivals Team Lotus. In 2011, he became their reserve driver and drove in GP2 with the AirAsia team.

In the 2011 season, Razia participated in first practice in both China and the season-ending Brazil and continued to appear in Young Driver tests. For 2012, he turned his attention to the GP2 series, but was confirmed as a Marussia driver for the following season. As a late signing to replace Timo Glock, Razia was due to line up alongside Max Chilton as part of the team's double rookie lineup. Unfortunately, his sponsors did not manage to meet their part of the bargain, and Marussia made the difficult decision to replace Razia with Jules Bianchi. Just two weeks before his potential debut, Razia was left without an F1 drive.

Instead, Razia raced in the International GT Open series. In 2014, he moved to Indy Lights, winning one race during the year. For 2015 and 2016, he returned to his home country to race in Stock Car Brasil.