Williams confirms Pizzonia for Brazil.

Antonio Pizzonia will get a chance to play to his home crowd next weekend after the Williams-BMW team opted to retain him alongside Mark Webber for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

With Nick Heidfeld injured, following both his Monza test shunt and subsequent bicycle accident, there had been some speculation that GP2 points leader Nico Rosberg may have been given his Formula One debut, but Williams has since aired on the side of caution and given Pizzonia another chance. Rosberg's participation was always doubtful given that the final round of the GP2 Series follows just four days after the Brazilian round, leaving Pizzonia as the only viable candidate.

"It's great that Antonio has another opportunity to race, especially in Brazil where he will be in front of his home crowd," technical director Sam Michael said, "This, coupled with Mark's solid qualifying position, should enable us maximise the results in Brazil, a track that we won on last year."

Given Heidfeld's confirmed signing with the BMW works team that will grow out of Sauber next season, Pizzonia's occupation of the second FW27 could now extend, Rosberg pending, into the final two races, in Japan and China, and the Brazilian is keen to make a good impression on home soil.

"Obviously, I am very happy that I've been given the opportunity to race again, particularly as Brazil is my home race," he said, mindful that the incident that put Juan Montoya out of the Belgian GP last weekend may have gone against him, "It will be very special for me to race in front of a home crowd, so I can't wait.

"Interlagos is a great track, one which I really enjoy driving, so I'm hoping to have a good weekend. The bumps make it quite a tricky circuit, and a unique one when it comes to set-up of the car, and the weather can be unpredictable in Sao Paulo, so I wouldn't be surprised if we had some rain this year. However, it was good for me to be in the car this week at Silverstone, where we tested for two days, so I now feel better prepared for the race."